27/01/01 PSJ 4 Parscelona 3

January 27th 2001

PSJ 4 Parscelona 3
South Inch, Perth
Most of the notes were taken by Keith Wright. Unfortunately I lost them so it's still a rather brief report.

Parscelona kicked off with two Saints players on their team thanks to the late arrival of most of the squad, with the manager and captain settting a particularly good example by sleeping in.

St Johnstone took the lead early in the first half when a shot from the edge of the box took a slight deflection off Calum and curled away from Ronz into the net.

The home side made it two-nil a short while later when a low shot, which Ronz seemed to have covered, bobbled on the uneven ground (though the pitch wasn't too bad compared to some of the flooded pitches nearby) and bounced up and over him as he dived.

PSJ continued to put pressure on the Pars but luckily most of their crosses flew across the face of goal with no takers.

Parscelona managed to get back into it and, after two of his previous efforts had produced two of the worst shots ever, Alan Maxwell got a goal back for the visitors. Neil Holland's pass skidded between two Saints defenders to the feet of Alan on the right. Alan, thinking he was closer than he was, hit it first time with not a great deal of force. The ball skidded slowly across the damp grass and most of his teammates had already turned away in disgust before the ball managed to squeeze in at the near post.

Parscelona drew level shortly after half time when Craig W. made a run down the left before cutting back across goal to give Jamie Wilson an easy tap-in.

PSJ regained their lead soon after - when the Pars defence failed to clear the danger from a corner, the ball was put away from close range.

Again Pars clawed their way back into it and again it was Jamie Wilson who scored. Beating the Saints defence, who were all too busy screaming for handball, Jamie replicated Alan's earlier finish to slip the ball into the bottom right corner.

Pars tried for a winner with Colin McKean and Jamie Wilson both trying ambitious efforts that came close, but it was the home team who were to get the winner.

A weak clearance from Johnnie MacDougall near the corner flag made it as far as the edge of the box where it was picked up by a Saints player. He eventually found time to shoot and produced a fine goal from the edge of the box to give his team a narrow victory (before being subbed by the referee for directing his less-than-sporting celebrations at Parscelona's man-on-the-touchline, Keith Wright).

Pars squad: Ronz, J. MacDougall, F. Clark, C. McKean, Craig W., J. Wilson, A. Maxwell, C. Norris, E. Campbell, C. Godden, N. Holland, S. Holland, C. Ozog