The Saints aren't coming

Travelling up to Scotland to see the Who start what is billed as their farewell tour I used my free Saturday afternoon to take in the local game where I was staying in Perth. Fortunately this was the date of the Scottish Cup when the top division clubs join the competition and holders St. Johnstone would begin their defence of the trophy won for the first time in a May with a home tie against Ross County.

A long queue for the bus to the ground suggested that the multitudes of Perth would be returning to salute their cup heroes, however most of the passengers alighted in the neighbouring suburb of Tulloch before we reached the ring road and headed across the car park towards the bright lights of McDiarmid Park. 

Even having left the city centre as late as 2.15 there was plenty of time to join the short queue to pay my reduced £20 admission, pick up a £2 programme, a mince bridie and a bovril before I found a free seat on the popular side ready to greet the teams as they rather incongruously emerged to the sound of Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline.

With a gaggle of away fans corralled in the far corner of the main stand, and both ends totally closed to specatators it was rather an inauspicious occasion to commence the defence of such an august achievement, but one which was sadly expected following an earlier conversation on my train journey north. A father and son had spotted me reading the Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund programme and were full of questions about the game with follow ups about the general state of affairs in N5. This reflected a fascination with football north of the border which is every bit as natural as that in England. However it appears the Premier League now predominates to even the detriment of the once great equivalent in Scotland. On investigation the pair had enjoyed odd trips south of the border to the likes of Old Trafford but today would be going to Perth only to see a promotional Coca-Cola truck. A small window on a problem which appears to translate on the pitch in terms of young talent with perhaps Wales now ahead of the Scots in international terms thanks to their clubs involvement in the Premier League,
My theory was given further credence in a entertaining game which lacked quality, the star of both teams owing their career to English clubs, supplementing many of their team mates with Football League experience on their CV.
However with St Johnstone racing into a two goal lead before I had finished my Bovril, it initially looked like a walk in the park for the Saintees. Michael O'Halloran opened the scoring when he picked up the ball after it ran loose from a James McFadden free kick. The linesman raised his flag when the ball hit the back of the net but this was waved away by the referee. McFadden then showed his class to double the score with a shot from distance.
At this point the County defence was in disarray, partly due to playing Wolves loanee Jamie Reckord at left back when he was clearly more comfortable in a more advanced role but any thoughts of a rout faded as the away team clawed their way back into the game and started to expose St. Johnstone's own defensive shortcomings.
A goal now seemed likely at either end, but fortunately for the sake of my entertainment St. Johnstone didn't convert one of many chances that came their way before half time. The teams returned after the interval to the much more appropriate sound of Skids and the end to end game continued.

Midway through the second half Ross County pulled a goal back with the move of the match. The referee judiciously played an advantage after an eye watering tackle on Liam Boyce, Ross moving the ball forward with speed to find Jake Jervis up front who topped off the move with a fine finish.
Both teams now went all out to score, with the lion's share of the chances falling to St. Johnstone who spurned a number of one on ones before deservedly running out 2-1 winners. Sadly only just over two thousand people watched the game, a Conference level crowd for one of the top teams in the land. Those that did go were largely passive (one woman sat a few rows ahead of me spent the game knitting) and its clear that Scottish football is badly in need of a shot in the arm to restore it to its former glories.