Hearts Cup Replay

Heart Sick

The Scottish Cup replay took place in front of a vocal band of hardcore supporters. The overhead conditions were good and the pitch, despite looking horrendous, played reasonably well. Callum Davidson missed out with a hamstring injury and Dave Mackay missed out because Craig Thomson is a wankstain on Scottish football. Lee Croft was dropped to the bench because he husnae been very good at Saints.

With Alan Mannus Saints first choice goalkeeper until next season, it was an unusual back five with a the defence lining up as Anderson-McCracken-Wright-Maybury, midfield saw, Millar-Morris-M Davidson-Craig and up top came Fran and Cillian.

The game was a horrendous pile of dross until Murray Davidson amazingly found the target with just a few minutes remaining. Until then, there had been feck all in the way of entertainment which the exception of the Saints Neanderthals bellowing at Danny Grainger. Some of our fans are quite incredible pieces of DNA.

Brian Winter, or Winters as Saints fans probably know him, was the referee and it is a sad reflection of our game that he is easily our best referee. The top flight official made quite a faux pas when he tried to book Murray Davidson for a foul committed by Cillian Sheridan but other than that he had an admirable game. I’m not castigating him for the penalty because, despite watching numerous replays, I cannot be 100% that it wasn’t a penalty.

Other than that, there’s nothing to say about the game. It was an even affair, though with better finishing we’d have won it in the first period of extra time. The loss of revenue is a massive blow to Lomas plans for next season, he’s already missed out on 2 goalkeeping targets and the third is now less likely to come to fruition with the budget under threat.

The good news is that Stevie May has signed a new deal so we have at least one good striker on the books and certain to remain with us. That said, he couldn’t score past Zander today... Chris Millar has been offered new terms, but I can’t imagine he’s in any rush to sign. Its little secret that clubs are coming up to watch Midgie despite the little man being well off-form. I guess that if he keeps Lee Croft out the team, he’ll have thoroughly deserved his new contract.

Jack Compton’s ankle tear is likely to keep him out until 17 March and that doesn’t give him much time to win a new deal. I have every confidence in his skill and hopefully Lomas does too. The tricky little foreigner could well be the find of the year.

Another injured star is Steven Anderson and his loss will make some of the Delophiles realise how important the centre half is. We have to hope that he’s only out for a few weeks because without him, top six will be a tough ask. Speaking of Del, despite my dislike of the man’s techniques and player treatment, all Saints fans must hope beyond hope that he keeps his job until the summer, Saints stand to make a tidy profit from Bristol and Del being a couple come June... August would be a great time for him to get sacked.

So we journey to Aberdeen tomorrow for a match against the in-form Dons. Craig Brown is clearly relishing the game, especially as it looks like Moon could be out for a long time and Adams is still on the sidelines. The Dons have a strong centre midfield and they’ll try hard to make that count against us. The game isn’t of massive importance in terms of points, we remain on a par with Hearts and the top six is still perfectly feasible is we lose.

What’s important is to break the losing streak. We haven’t played poorly, indeed we’ve played very well in our last four games, but both winning and losing are habits; we want to break this losing habit. It should be a good game, I’m looking forward to it, but I’d take a point right now.

Two wins this month will almost clinch the top six; win the next three games and Lomas will have achieved the target. It’s been a wonderful season; I don’t want it to end. We’ll reflect on this season for years to come. Pivotal in so many ways. Make sure you pick up a copy of the current Saints magazine, it’s gonna be something to treasure when we’re looking back. The enormity of getting rid of McInnes (and for serious dough) the brilliance of Geoff in appointing Lomas, the generosity of the man in allowing the club’s management to be passed to his son, the emergence of Steven Anderson as a leader and a player worthy of international recognition.

Enjoy Aberdeen, savour the season, support the Saints.