The troops set of early for Perth after final confirmation that the match had survived the overnight weather. Indeed, the yellow ball was called into action on the snowy pitch and both sets of players had to exercise common sense in challenges. Despite the conditions, FPC were on the offensive from the first whistle and forced a couple of corners during early pressure. It wasn’t long before they got off the mark, Mark Fox to be exact, with a clever drag-back and shot from the edge of the area which crept inside the keeper’s left hand post.
FPC’s second wasn’t far behind, with Bendy (Martin Hendrie) making a contribution on his return to the squad. His hassling in midfield paid off when he chipped a square ball to veteran goal-grabber Davie T. Catching the pass on the volley, he lobbed the St Johnstone No 1 from fully thirty yards, watching in satisfaction as it dipped under the bar. Not content with one, Tonner’s brace was completed moments later, when a Macca (Andrew MacKenzie) free kick was delivered with his usual perfection and from ten yards out DT bulleted a header high past the flailing Perth stopper.
Bendy claimed his second assist after half an hour, unwittingly as it happened to be a shot-gone-wrong. A long ball from the back dropped over the last defender and he sprang the offside trap to bear down on the keeper. He let fly from just inside the box but his shot skewed across the face of goal and was heading past the far post as Stu Jack arrived. His first try to knock it into the empty net from one yard out shaved the post, but the ball fell kindly for him and he made no mistake with his second strike. The first half scoring was rounded off from another corner on the right. Macca’s ball in was partially cleared to Foxy, who fired a ball back into the crowd in the six yard box. It came out again to the penalty spot, where a more powerful drive from Kev Totten forced its way through a gap into the far corner.
Priorities at half time were to preserve the clean sheet, then to try to build the goal difference. With PSJ playing a high defensive line, opportunities were there for the midfielders to burst through and add some goals. And it was a midfielder who notched the sixth goal around the hour mark. Receiving the ball just inside a crowded penalty box and with little to aim at, Macca squeezed a toe-poke through the bodies into the bottom right, with the keeper static. On the rare occasions when Glenny (Steven Glenny) was called into action at the back, he responded, with three magnificent one-on-one saves, but on the whole the back four produced a solid performance, and the clean sheet was no more than they deserved.
Back up front, the Corner’s two strikers combined from a long throw on the left, Davie T flicking on for Foxy, who turned his man inside, then out, before angling a low drive past the PSJ goalie for number seven and Foxy set up the final goal of the match when he raced down the right flank and whipped in a front post ball to Bendy, who neatly diverted it first time in at the near post to close out the match.
Home to Livi OL next week,11am at Ravenscraig.
Perth St Johnstone (PSJ) 0 - 8 Fir Park Corner (IFA Scottish League, 10/12/11)
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