20/05/01 Parscelona 3 PSJ 7

May 20th 2001

Parscelona 3 PSJ 7
St Leonards Park, Dunfermline
40 minutes each way

Pars welcomed St Johnstone for the first encounter of these teams on our home turf, with PSJ finally getting to sample the wondrous footballing arena of St Leonards Park. Bizarrely, Parscelona suffered a 7-3 defeat for the fourth time this season, one of the prior games being against the very same opposition in Perth. The Pars were good for much of the first half and the last fifteen minutes of the second but the performance was marred by a middle period in which, quite frankly, PSJ took the piss.

Parscelona got off to a promising start when Ross Arnott found himself through on goal, but his finish was poor and went yards wide.

Ten minutes into the match however, Parscelona got it right. Grant Davidson managed to squeeze his way through and tap the ball under the Saints' advancing keeper, scoring his first ever goal for Parscelona.

A staggering twelve minutes had passed before Parscelona gave up their lead, allowing a Saints attacker to get loose and finish via the far post.

Only two minutes later, PSJ took the lead, which they were to hold for the rest of the match. The ball was lobbed into the box from wide on the right and Ewan Campbell, the latest gullible fool to be suckered into donning the Parscelona keeper top, struggled to cope with it, as it passed through his hands and eventually dropped in at the far side of the goals.

Parscelona almost levelled before half time, when a great crossfield pass from Ali McLeod found Alan Maxwell on the right. The striker managed to hold off the defender long enough to get his shot in but, though it squeezed under the keeper, it hit the wrong side of the post and rolled wide.

Parscelona started the second half trying desperately to avoid their usual second-half collapse, with Ewan Campbell and Johnnie MacDougall both having to come to the rescue and the visitors managing to hit the post as well. Their luck was not to hold out though, and with ten minutes gone after the break, a PSJ shot was deflected in to give the visitors a 3-1 lead.

PSJ extended their lead a minute later when some shambolic defending from the Pars allowed them to slot the ball home just inside the post.

Seven minutes later, Davie Galloway, making his long awaited return, gifted the ball to PSJ with what had now become known as the "Galloway Goof". With merciless cries of "welcome to the game Davie", PSJ made it 5-1.

They didn't all go in however - Ewan made a great save to send one effort over the bar, and the resulting corner was headed over.

Parscelona didn't create many chances in this period, and one of their best was messed up by Alan Maxwell just inside the box when his attempted cut back to Ross Arnott was ballooned out via a defender.

Ewan did well again to collect a ball sent over the top of Parscelona's defence but with half an hour of the second half gone, he and Jamie Wilson collided to allow PSJ an easy tap in - 6-1.

Jamie made amends shortly afterwards with a good goalline clearance, but PSJ still had one goal left in them. Within two minutes of their sixth, PSJ had won a free kick near the touchline on the left wing after Grant Cotter hauled down one of their players. The ball was caught by the wind and dropped in over Ewan Campbell in goals, while the Pars defenders tried to claim to referee stand-in Keith Rapley that it was indirect, quite possibly the worst and most desperate claim made to any referee ever.

PSJ were denied again by a great double save by Ewan, and the Pars began to play again.

Grant Cotter's play down the right saw the ball cleared off the line and although PSJ managed another attack, the rest of the chances fell to Parscelona.

Callum Norris did well to get the ball to Grant Cotter with three minutes to go, and he send through Grant Davidson who once more managed a clinical finish to grab his and Parscelona's second goal of the game.

Grant Macleod won a corner for the home side following a run down the wing, but sent his header wide of the target. Grant did play a part in the final goal of the game however, as Parscelona seized a chance in the last minute to make it 7-3 Part 4.

Collecting the ball from Chris Ozog, Grant took it down the right and sent Grant Cotter towards the corner. Grant Cotter's first-time pass was inch perfect for Alan Maxwell, whose shot appeared to be going over until dipping at the last minute over the head of the helpless PSJ keeper to continue Alan's scoring run. The first player to congratulate Alan was Kev of St Johnstone, due to the pair earlier having arranged a [NOTE: We regret that we have been advised by our lawyers to remove the rest of this match report rather than risk implicating Alan and Kev in a bribery and match-fixing scandal that is sure to rock internet football to its very core. An investigation is underway.]

Pars squad: R. Arnott, E. Campbell, G. Cotter, G. Davidson, M. Falconer, D. Galloway, N. Holland, S. Holland, J. MacDougall, G. Macleod, A. Maxwell, A. McLeod, Alasdair Mercer, Alex Mercer, C. Norris, C. Ozog, K. Rapley (REF), D. Sanders, S. Smyth, J. Wilson