Tina's Super Saints of Paisley

[gavrenwick]

Vaz Te was superb in early FM's, flopped slightly in the middle FM years, and he re-emerged as a force to be reckoned with. Davids will always be a favourite midfielder of mine!

*****

There wasn’t much sense of expectation coming out of McDiarmid Park, the St Johnstone fans eerily quiet considering the teams were about to kick off. The visiting St Mirren fans were louder, and there were only a thousand of them. Edgar Davids and Ricardo Vaz Te stood in the centre circle ready for the kick off, and after a brisk wind passed over, the ball was moving. Tina turned into the crowd and gave a little wave to Rob Ridgway, who was sitting in with the directors. There was a rumour going around that he was a firm fan of Vaz Te, and while Tina hoped that he wasn’t here to cast an eye over him, she couldn’t help think otherwise.

The early minutes of the match saw Vaz Te break away towards goal after some lacklustre communication between the St Johnstone centre backs. The ball came courtesy of Contento, who himself was beginning to rack up a large suitor list, and it went in between the pair. Vaz Te ran onto it, shrugged a defender off, and struck a low shot just wide of the post. The intent was there, but early nerves seemed to have kicked in. St Mirren were moving the ball around well, but the final third was slightly lacking.

With the St Johnstone front line looking variably quiet and uninterested, St Mirren pushed on. Some decent play down the left by Contento allowed Perea some space in the middle. A wayward shot later and he was regretting his choice of action, especially when both Davids and Brandy were waiting in space for something to come their way. The game was moving along and there was a seeming lack of communication going between midfield and forwards.

St Johnstone, twenty minutes in, finally found some ground and built an attack up having done nothing to make anyone believe they were in the stadium for the past nineteen. Gary Irvine earned himself a corner and stood over it, watching the melee unfold in the box. A superb cross later and Andy Jackson had met it with his head, forcing a goal line clearance from Wotton. The sign of pressure was one that was now set to continue, and the following four minutes saw another two corners only just getting defended. But then disaster struck.

Kenny Deuchar, having been largely absent for the whole match so far, pushed on with the ball and saw his pass to Irvine deflected for a corner. Irvine whipped it in and found Deuchar. The former Gretna man was causing chaos in the area with his ample frame, but when the corner found him, the header bounced off the back of Parkhurst. Andy Jackson, smelling glory, popped up from nowhere, shook off Contento and lashed the ball home. The goal was a real kick in the nether regions, the whole St Mirren staff shrinking into their technical box. The goal, however, forced St Mirren to make a significant improvement in their approach.

Parkhurst and Murray were dominating in the midfield, with Parkhurst himself and Davids having seemingly morphed into each other’s positions. It was however the two players on the left that forced an opening. Contento played a lovely ball down the wing for Vaz Te to run on to, and he did so whilst skipping away from two St Johnstone challenges. He ran confidently, and his final ball was even better. The ball skidded across the six yard box to find Brandy. He, however, slid and mistimed, allowing veteran Edgar Davids to tap in at the far post to level the game just four minutes after the visitors went behind. Tina was off her seat in joy, the goal having come unexpectedly, and from someone just as unlikely.

The goal seemed like a killer for the first half with both sides struggling to maintain any possession of meaningful quality to force another chance. With ten minutes having passed since the goal, Kenny Deuchar popped up unnoticed in the box with the ball at his feet thanks to a lucky deflection, but the shot he came out with looked a far reach from the former Gretna scoring form he used to enjoy.

A brief moment of arguing followed between Grainger and Innes, with the players having clashed heads and finding it reasonable to blame each other. It was just an unlucky accident, but they were adamant and clashing over it. Neither received a booking, but the whole thing took the gloss off the first half for Tina. St Mirren hadn’t played badly, but they needed to ramp it up just one more gear if they were to pick up a win here.

Just one gear and they’d win the Battle of the Saints.

[AussieRed]

took me almost a week, but i've read the whole thing! top stuff mate, read your previous Tina adventure a while back and loved it (back when I could remember my original log in)! Can't wait to hear the rest.

Just a question, do you use FMRTE to alter the game to fit your story, or do you wait till the game throws something up and write around that? Just curious.

[gavrenwick]

Cheers for looking in, AussieRed. Nope, I don't use an in-game editor and just allow the game itself to throw me storylines. Sometimes it goes a few days without offering me much, in which case I have to improvise.

*****

The second half team talk had largely allowed Tina to press the important matters of defending for each other at the back, something they had struggled to do all through the match so far. “Keep it tight, and we will surely grab another win here today. They haven’t been great, we’ve just been lacklustre.”

St Johnstone were the only ones to make a change at half time, with Paul Sheerin coming on to replace Craig. There was a however, a sense of hesitation in their play as they second half kicked off, and as such, St Mirren stepped it up. Contento and Davids combined excellently to give Brandy some much needed, and rarely experienced, space in the box. His shot was scuffed and off target, but the combination between both defence and midfield caused some disruption, disruption that Tina wanted more of. Contento re-appeared once more to earn a corner, his cross from the left byline being forced out by Sheerin. Annoyingly to Tina, the corner was wasted and failed to beat the first man. It was cleared, and although St Johnstone failed to make anything of the counter, it was a waste and that was disappointing.

McInnes was then forced into another change, but this one held a lot of meaning to Tina. Dave Mackay, her former Livingston captain, was standing on the side waiting to make his entrance. He embraced Tina with a hug, “Great to see you again, Tina. Seems things haven’t turned out so bad for you.”

Tina smiled, “I’m like a cat in that I always seem to land on my feet.”

Carlos looked on, “I thought the saying was that they had nine lives?”

Dave laughed, “Good luck for the future.”

His introduction sparked the end of Moon’s game, but then a moment of sublime nature would occur to give St Mirren the lead. A loose ball at the heart of the Buddies midfield allowed Wotton and Vaz Te to open a gap in the centre. Twenty five yards out and Edgar Davids appeared, where he unleashed an absolute rocket into the top corner from twenty five yards.

The goal was phenomenal, and came pretty much out of nothing. It also proved the turning point for St Mirren attacking. Vaz Te, now firing on all cylinders, was pumping balls into the box from all angles, but each time a stuttering lunge ended up with no player on the end of his fantastic deliveries. It would take just one of them to increase the tally and certainly seal the result, but it just wouldn’t cross the line. A toe poke from Perea ended up hitting the post from an oblique angle, but there was no one on hand to round it in.

Seventy five minutes hit, prompting Tina to make a triple substitution. A triple is brave at the best of times, especially when considering that it leaves you no scope for error if anyone picks up an injury. Immobile, McLean and Rotella came on for the final fifteen, with Perea, Brandy and Murray making way. The subs were an attempt to inject some life into the attacking force for the end of the game, but there was a supreme lack of influence from any of those who came on, and even more so from those who were already on.

From there St Johnstone mounted a couple of rare forays into the St Mirren box, Andy Jackson almost causing anguish for the visiting fans once more when he shrugged off Wotton, but his shot was well saved by Mark Howard, who had seemingly done little through the match. He had a second chance minutes later, a cross from the right finding him unmarked, but the header was lacking power and direction and it was straight down Howard’s throat.

There were a few half chances that had the crowd ready to get off their seats, but they amounted to little other than easy, routine saves.

The net wouldn’t ripple again, and St Mirren took home yet another victory. It wasn’t pretty, but it had been effective. The Battle of the Saints had been won by Tina and her troupe.

St Johnstone 1 (Andy Jackson 24)

St Mirren 2 (Edgar Davids 30, 60)

Attendance: 3950

MotM: Edgar Davids

[gavrenwick]

Aberdeen went into their game with Hibernian knowing a win could take them second for a potentially small while. Their plans to do so however went awry when Steven Thicot rose highest to nod home an early corner and silence the home fans. Aberdeen rallied and came back fighting, registering the equaliser thirty four minutes in as Simon Feindouno took on two defenders before lashing into the far corner. There were chances for both to win the game, with Feindouno, Mark Kerr and Chris Maguire both missing sitters and a last minute save by Jamie Langfield from a Riordan freekick saved Aberdeen blushes.

Hamilton continued their fine run of form with yet another defeat and yet another goalless performance. Dundee United were the visitors and never had to get out of second gear, Prince Buaben putting them ahead with a deft shot from just inside the penalty area. Eleven minutes later and David Robertson nodded in a second, leaving the home side floundering once more. There was not even an attempt to rally and Lee Wilkie sealed the third and final goal with a powerful header. Hamilton are really in trouble now, with only St Johnstone keeping their hopes alive with similarly weak performances.

Rugby Park saw a rather thrilling game of back and forth between Killie and Falkirk, and it was the visitors who took an against the run of play lead when on-loan Alex MacDonald prodded home from a scrappy piece of corner action. He scored again the second half when he beat Garry Hay on the left, cut in and unleashed a rocket into the top corner. Allan Russell netted a late consolation, but Rheinheimer ensured that her side held on for a well needed three points and a lift above their opponents into 9^th.

With both Rangers and Celtic hot on the heels of St Mirren, their fixtures were of extreme interest after both games had been moved to a 5:30pm kick-off, allowing all St Mirren fans the chance to watch and observe. Celtic travelled to Edinburgh, knowing a win and anything but for Rangers would put them back in second. The game however was a complete washout and lacked any real moments of magic for either side. Chances were few and far between, and while Hearts looked happy to settle for a draw, Celtic gave away a reckless penalty. David Obua obliged dutifully, and with one kick, Hearts had taken three valuable points from a game that had lacked quality of any kind.

Rangers were on at the same time, hosting Motherwell, and having previously been held by Well, they suffered yet again from their own profligacy. Motherwell were the better side but they went off the boil when man of the game to that point Jim O’Brien was stretchered off with a damaged elbow. It was a breezy, wet night in Glasgow and the game did little to improve the mood around the ground as the pair ground out a 0-0 result.

| Pos   | Inf   | Team          |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color=#008000]| 1st   |       | St. Mirren    |       | 16    | 13    | 2     | 1     | 34    | 9     | +25   | 41    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [/color]
| 2nd   |       | Rangers       |       | 16    | 9     | 4     | 3     | 22    | 11    | +11   | 31    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Celtic        |       | 16    | 8     | 5     | 3     | 21    | 12    | +9    | 29    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Aberdeen      |       | 16    | 9     | 2     | 5     | 19    | 15    | +4    | 29    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Dundee Utd    |       | 16    | 7     | 4     | 5     | 19    | 16    | +3    | 25    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Hearts        |       | 16    | 5     | 5     | 6     | 11    | 11    | 0     | 20    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | Motherwell    |       | 16    | 5     | 4     | 7     | 20    | 18    | +2    | 19    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | Hibernian     |       | 16    | 4     | 6     | 6     | 18    | 20    | -2    | 18    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Falkirk       |       | 16    | 4     | 5     | 7     | 12    | 24    | -12   | 17    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Kilmarnock    |       | 16    | 5     | 1     | 10    | 18    | 23    | -5    | 16    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | St. Johnstone |       | 16    | 2     | 5     | 9     | 14    | 33    | -19   | 11    | 
[color=#ff0000]| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  |       | Hamilton      |       | 16    | 0     | 7     | 9     | 4     | 20    | -16   | 7     |[/color] 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|