2005/6 Review of the Season (2)

We could have been excused for expecting a hammering in this game and we duly got it. Move along, nothing to see, although Stilian Petrov did score a hat trick just to complete our annoyance. We bounced back with an excellent, if flattering, 3-0 win at East End Park before yet another late goal saw us drop two points, this time at home to Kilmarnock.

The decision not to reduce prices for our match against Aberdeen in the League Cup quarter final was controversial given we picked up around £60k from the BBC to show it on television. A screamer from Kerr coupled with a penalty save by Graeme Smith saw us through to the next round against a Dons side which never looked interested. This would be our second successive League Cup semi final and the third semi of Butcher's reign. An impressive stat but we were given no help in reaching the final when we drew Celtic. The other tie was between bottom feeders Livingston and Dunfermline.

A draw at Tannadice was just about right and a clever free kick goal looked to have given us the points against Hearts before another injury time goal haunted us. This time hero McLean turned to a villain by giving away a spot kick which Hartley converted with no trouble. The three successive draws left us seventh, one point behind Aberdeen. It was taking a mathematician to figure out where we could/should have been had we been able to defend in the last five minutes of games though.

The run of draws was broken by ICT who defeated us yet again at Fir Park. This time they withstood a barrage of missed chances to mug us twice on the break and returned home in fits of laughter with the three points. We made up for it by stealing an abysmal game at Falkirk thanks to a header from Jim Hamilton and kept the top six race tight indeed. We lost to Hibs at Easter Road – you've guessed it, with another late comedy goal – although had it not been for the inspired Smith, they could have had double figures. By this point, Smith was already looking to be a certainty for player of the year. Not bad for a boy who didn't even make the starting XI for the opening day.

The vital Christmas period gave us two great wins. We destroyed Aberdeen with what could have been our best performance of the season. We needed a lucky deflection to open the scoring but the play after that was superb. Kevin McBride returned from a long spell out with injury around this time and he saved our blushes at Livingston on Hogmanay, cutting in from the right and drilling an injury time winner into the bottom corner.

The turn of the year was a good time for ‘Well fans. We were in the top six, in the semi final of one cup and the following week we were due to start the Scottish Cup campaign against a First Division side. Surely we could look forward to the New Year with hope and optimism given that we had finally seemed to find our stride? Oh no…

Review of 2005/6 Part 1

2005/6 Part 3

2005/6 Review of the Season (2)

Last updated : 11 June 2006 By Firparkcorner