SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.
 
 
Playing against Livingston has not been as easy as it should have been for the last couple of years. They have had a habit of getting right in amongst us in the middle and up front,while stifling us at the back. Their manager clearly takes a certain delight in that,as he should. Even if I can’t help thinking that this approach may not be entirely Livingston-centric. Witness his comments after the match where he recommended John Kennedy for the job!
 
 
Is that right,aye?
 
 
In fairness to the current interim manager,our last two performances have been amongst our best of the season-though that is hardly much to crow about. Neither Falkirk nor Livingston got near enough to even kick us properly,and neither referee bothered with a yellow card for either side. Must be a while since two games in succession went by without a card being issued,though I doubt there will be a hat-trick next weekend if the game even gets the go-ahead.
 
 
But to the match itself. We lined up with a little more familiarity than has been the case too often,with Eddy-who really needs to put his foot through the ball sometimes-spearheading the line and ably supported by Jamesie and Mo in the wider positions. Broonie anchored the middle which allowed DT and CalMac to press forward. Griff was relegated to the bench after his horror show last week,as were Christie and Tam. We started off where we left off the previous week,unrelenting movement and attacking at every opportunity. Yet Livi managed to frustrate us-well,me at least!-for the first half hour till we Jamesie fooled us all with his finish for the opener!
 
 
DT picked it up,played a quick pass to Eddie who flicked it into the box for Jamesie to take on the run. I don’t think the left foot finish quite went the way he planned,but it trundled past the deceived keeper to the bottom corner. We were better than good value for that at the time,yet our second a few minutes later also needed a little brush with Lady Luck. Greg Taylor played a lovely pass inside the defence for Mo to cross from the bye-line to the waiting DT a couple of yards out. His cross deflected off the covering defender,looped over the keeper,fell perfectly to DT,and even the Griff of last week would have put that away! So 2-0 up at half time,hardly undeserved,but the manner of the goals must have pissed our opponents off a tad. Pity,huh?
 
 
Well,we sure took no pity in the second half! We went for the throat,and no messing. The first ten minutes saw us doubling our lead. The first via a corner,which even after multiple replays is inconclusive as to whether Broonie or the under-pressure defender got the last touch. I’ll give it as an og,which will hopefully fire up our captain to make up for this injustice next weekend! The fourth followed a few minutes later-Mo had seen a similar effort saved just earlier by the keeper when a loose ball broke to him on the edge of the area,set up lovely for a curler from his right foot. He didn’t waste any time fannying about with a touch,just duly dispatched it to make it four. Really a delightful finish.
 
 
Which,if anything,he bettered for the fifth ten minutes later. Kris burst forward through the middle and this time Mo stayed right of central. That positioning compared to his first actually summed up his performance on the day-not just unplayable for much of the time,but bliddy difficult to pick up or mark. Kris got to the edge of the area,threaded it inside,Mo took a touch this time-and just like last week-dinked it over the onrushing keeper for probably the goal of the game. Simply delightful stuff,IMO.
 
 
Sometimes I really want this guy to stay,and then I remember some-too many-of his other performances. Maybe he’s a Samaras MkII,and I know how pissed off I was when his contract wasn’t renewed. And I remember how pissed off I could be at so many of his performances too. He’s nowhere near that level yet-except in how much he can frustrate me at times!!! Last I heard,he was available for £6m and at that price,even if only to preserve some continuity in the team after a likely huge summer turnover,I would be inclined to keep him.
 
 
And there’s an article in itself,I suppose…
 
 
The sixth and final goal-which was a very good finish indeed-owed itself to one of those “Efe moments” that we sadly became so familiar with over time. Struggling to do anything from the right side of defence,he passed it along the edge of the box and straight to Christie. He took it in his stride,ran into the box and finished calmly into the corner. I thought it was a really good finish,but he obviously didn’t rate it so highly,judging by his lack of celebration. Cheerio,son. Trust me,none of us will be saying in one year,two,three years or ever that we really miss you.
 
 
I’m not gonna finish this article on such a sour note though. I thought our performance on Saturday was outstanding. Full of running,movement,attacking intent. Hell,we even looked kinda solid at the back on the few occasions that Livi got on the ball. I don’t know whether the last couple of games have been down to coaching,or relief at the former manager no longer being in charge,or simply the paucity of the opposition. Frankly,I don’t care-never look a gift horse in the mouth! Ten goals in two games without reply is a good springboard for our visit to the hounds of hell next week. What’s not to like?
 
 

Above article by BMCUWP