23/11/2024 – ABERDEEN (H)

What a day!

At 8am all look lost, or completely white, as the snow that had been wrongly predicted all week finally landed in Paisley leaving a blanket all over the town including the hallowed turf where our heroes play.

As our staff made their way to the ground in extremely dangerous conditions, often taking hours to go only a few miles, the clearing of the pitch, carparks and walkways began, against both the clock and considerable odds of success.

Word got out and volunteers began helping, but even by midday it looked extremely doubtful the game would go ahead as the pitch was still covered in snow, and the whispered word within the stadium at this time was the game was unlikely to be played on Saturday.

As Saints fans have proven in the past however on such occasions, all was not lost, and the operation then gathered serious pace.

Remarkably, by 2pm, the game had a good chance of going ahead, albeit with a 4pm start and 2.55pm pitch inspection.

The hard work continued, and just on 3pm, referee John Beaton declared the pitch playable and the game was on. It was suggested to us that this was one of the few decisions Mr Beaton got right all day, but we do not like to speculate at Consilium!

However, getting this game on against all those odds, led us to the first observation of the weekend……..OUR STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS ARE INCREDIBLE, and this before a ball was even kicked!

Back to the game, and Aberdeen fans had travelled in numbers, as they usually do, buoyed by their unbeaten league start to the season. In fact, they had dropped points in only one match, a 2-2 draw at Parkhead, and sat joint top of the league going into their visit to Paisley.

Despite this, optimism was high within the Saints support given how well we had been playing prior to the international break and also we hadn’t lost in 8 matches against the Dons in Paisley going back to 2018.

This confidence was also evident in the players, who were on the front foot from the first whistle in an opening half they dominated for long spells.

The breakthrough finally came in 19 minutes, when a long through ball by Ellery Balacombe was latched onto by Toyosi Olusanya, who made no mistake in giving Saints the lead.

The odds of Saints number 20 getting to the ball when Balcombe kicked were as unlikely as the match starting, but in the spirit of outstanding effort already shown by the supporters and staff, despite having a 10 yard disadvantage, Toyosi burst past a couple of Dons defenders before doing the business.

It was pretty incredible, and we need to ask IS TOYOSI OLUSANYA THE QUICKEST PLAYER WE HAVE EVER HAD?

It’s not for us to answer of course, but if Toyosi signs a new contract, we will let him know………………….

Obviously, we wouldn’t get it all our way during a match in the top flight and it looked like we were down to 10 men when John Beaton flashed a red card to Alex Gogic after 28 minutes, when the Saints defender had splashed through a puddle to win a clean tackle on Shayden Morris, but thankfully this was downgraded to a yellow after VAR intervention.

That aside, it was the second half before we were faced with any real adversity and the Dons put us under any pressure. Former Saints hero Jamie McGrath equalised early in the second half and the scales may have tipped at this point, however with O’Hara and Phillips dominating the midfield battle it wasn’t long until we were back on top.

The hero of Easter Road, Conor McMenamin, missed a glorious chance to put Saints back in front half way through the second period, but the inevitable was merely delayed as the winner was grabbed after 83 minutes when Richard Taylor rose majestically at the back post to nod home a Mark O’Hara corner.

It was the very least Saints deserved, however the height Taylor got up was astonishing, and although replays would show he used Scott Tanser to “piggy back” and put extra inches on his spring, we still need to ask IS THIS THE HIGHEST A SAINTS PLAYER HAS EVER JUMPED?

It’s not for us to answer of course, but if Richard signs a new contract, we will let him know………………….

Overall it was an excellent display, against a good side that was high on confidence. Every single player excelled, and it was in many ways a “classic” Stephen Robinson team performance, when any club in the country would have struggled to take points from us.

Following a pretty traumatic period, unprecedented in many ways for any manager in our history, Stephen Robinson has galvanised the squad and turned Saints back to the extremely effective team he is renowned for, and we couldn’t be happier for the gaffer.

Exciting weeks lie ahead. COYS!

Want to 4 tickets for our home match v Dundee on the 29th December and £87 credit for Legacy Comps, where you can win cash and other prizes? Just scroll down to see how to enter.

Aberdeen Players of the Match:

5 points – Alex Gogic

3 points – Mark O’Hara

1 point – Killian Phillips