Second Gear Spin Won't Take Us To The Last Minute

Last minute goals are b*ggers. They either send you home full of joy or make you curse out loud in the canned vegetables aisle in Morrisons, after receiving a txt that said “Huns won 1-0, goal last minute, bast*rds”

Not that I expected anything less. From ma vantage point, North Stand Upper, I mused wie some consternation that the “luck” and “breaks” had deserted us. As Alan Combe produced save after save, the ba’ always dropping to a yellow clad defender or us losing two players inside 18 minutes it seemed it would ring true.

Flag day part duex was on the cards until the luckless yellow clad defender diverted into his own net. A sigh of relief was heard above the cheers that greeted the goal, until Chelski bloody Dagger drowned everyone oot. Really it’s becoming not big or clever and I’m longing for “Fiesta” by the Pogues again.

This was the kind of luck that deserted us during the nightmare of December. When we lost the “Holy Goalie”, a loss which, the mair I look at it COULD cost us the league, for the whole of December we lost numerous “luckless” goals. Inverness, two goals that were savable and a third that took a wicked deflection into the strikers path, ST Mirren, one shot on goal palmed into an on-coming strikers path and then Hibs, a wonder goal from the best full back in Scotland, well Birmingham now.

We could go further back, Calderbuers push on the Jam Farts diving Tall, and yes I think it was a pen but we have seen them all not given. The double injury to oor full back cover, the loss of John Kennedy, the loss of Naka, the return of Elvis- well, was that not unlucky? - the off form of Hesslelink, Naylor, Calderbuer, Scott Browns inconstancy and the balance of the team being disrupted, both tactical and injury wise, can all be counted as unlucky.

But…for you to be Champions, you have to ride injuries and bad performances oot. Score a few last minute goals, grind oot a few results and ask for guys to give you shift in not their natural positions. We have done that the last two seasons. This season we huvnae and I’m seeing mair of us in the h*ns in last two games. The last two seasons we have been masters of what they have done and it’s a worry.

I thought we played well on Saturday. We created chances and played some decent stuff. On the way home I was unfortunate to hear Hugh Keevins and Mark Guidi on Clyde. They tore strips of the Hoops performance. Ma Uncle was at the game, he was listening to Clyde as he watched and he said you wid have thought they were watching a completely different game from the one unfolding in front of his eyes.

Now I widnae call ma Uncle a “fundamentalist” as Shug might do. But he was left in no doubt that Guidi and Keevins were peddling an anti-Celtic agenda. As he said he would usually listen to the game and take their word as gospel but after listening and watching he would never trust these “peepul” again.

So, were GS and Calderbuer listening to them? Today, I have seen Calderbeur described as “arrogant” wie his quote “We'll decide when we've played well not you and the rest of the winalot mob," and GS take on the game was put doon as “hyperbole”.

Ok, GS did go over the score wie this "Scott McDonald was fantastic without scoring a goal, Massimo Donati was fantastic, Shunsuke Nakamura showed some great touches, Scott Brown was driving forward from midfield, and we never looked in doubt at the back.”

Then adding "I liked our performance today, I liked it a lot, and on a good day we would have scored but you lot are so far up Walters arse you canny see it." Now, this is positive spin, a spin so positive it could have came from Alistair Campbell.
Views of the game can be different due to number of factors; the debates on the Timternet are proof of that. I would also not expect oor manager to come out and “hang oor players oot to dry” live on the radio or TV. But he should give us a bit of credit, that we are not buttoned up the back.

Saturday, we were better than in the previous weeks. We handled two set backs early doors and produced a competent performance- the same type of performance the h*ns are lauded for-, which was decent but also infuriating in spells, esp after we scored the goal, we should have went up a gear but we didnae, we became careless and wasteful.

The problem I have is that we should be doing better. Oor performances are off a team struggling to get oot of second gear. We showed signs of life against Killie, the wait to see Naka and Aiden on the same park is pant wetting, but we also retained ma doubts that we won’t be able to lift it when it matters.

Maybe, I was just carried away on Saturday. The London Road Tav, was jumping before the game. It was as busy as I have ever seen it, wie Irish brogue emitting from alcohol tinged breath wie ear bursting volume.

The walk up to the North Stand was awash wie fans, for the first time since the Donestk game. I think being behind suits us, the tag of underdog is 120 years auld, as we got behind the team. The normal placid consumer sang a few songs….strange days indeed.

So I was maybe carried away. We maybe were poor or have ma expectations dropped so low for team 3 that I’m willing to except competent performances from now on in as long as there is gold at the end of the rainbow? I somehow think competent won’t be guid enough and I think GS knows that as well.

Forza