THEPARISH CHURCH
McDiarmid faithful respond with songs of praise as Elliot and Saints battle to vital win
ELLIOTT PARISH has helped St Johnstone go from rock bottom to feeling on top of the world.
Now the keeper believes the Perth team can really get flying again if they keep delivering the type of performance which energised McDiarmid Park and sank Hearts on Saturday.
Unity filled the air as Callum Davidson’s troops gave their supporters a performance to get behind – and they responded in vociferous fashion.
Saints stars launched into tackles and blocks, they picked up the second balls and dug deep to deliver.
With goals from Ali Crawford and Jamie McCart either side of half-time thrown into the mix, it was enough to grab a priceless second win in 17 games.
It lifted them off the foot of the table but, perhaps more importantly, it lifted spirits.
Just a month ago, Saints were in the pits of despair after seeing their defence of the Scottish Cup ended when Kelty Hearts delivered their 10th straight defeat.
But they were cheered and roared off the park at the weekend for maintaining a defiant response to that Cup shocker – and Parish could feel the energy surge around the ground.
He said: “The fans have been waiting for us to do something like that for them and this could be a massive win for our season.
“The elation at the end of the game was brilliant. We’ve got to keep hold of that. Kelty was our rock bottom. There are enough senior players in that dressing room to know when things need to be said. And they were.
“The reaction since that day has been seen. What an atmosphere it was at the end. The feeling was incredible.
“Listening to the fans get right behind us made it one of the best games I’ve known here. There wasn’t a single player or member of staff who had anything bad to say about the supporters at Kelty.
“Like I said, it was our rock bottom, but they’ve quickly got right behind us and we really do appreciate it.
“We probably looked like a bit of a punching bag at times before the break.
“There’s not been a conscious lack of desire as a group. It’s always been there. This is a fantastic bunch of players.
“We’re not trying any harder now than we were, but the intensity was incredible in this performance and you could see the difference it made.
“The new faces have certainly helped, but the gaffer and his staff don’t half drive this squad.
“We’re all in this together, which has always been the case since I’ve been here.”
Parish was right. New signings have
helped boost the form. Although it was tough to pick out individuals from an excellent team display, wing-backs Tony Gallacher and Tom Sang were terrific and Melker Hallberg was the best player on the pitch.
The Swede’s two assists brought the goals for Crawford and McCart at one end, but stand-in Saints No.1 Parish more than played his part.
Parish produced a brilliant save to deny John Souttar a late equaliser and showed reflexes to grab a late Peter Haring effort on his line.
It was a huge moment and the keeper explained: “Some of the decisions that have gone against us this season have been outrageous. Thankfully there wasn’t another one.
“I’ve palmed the ball out and the Hearts player has punched it back in from about his hip.
“The referee hasn’t seen it. It was really crowded so it would have been difficult to see, but he’s definitely punched it.
“It was like Thierry Henry against Ireland all those years ago. It was that bad.
“I don’t think it went over the line after that, but it would really have summed our luck up if that had been given.”
It wasn’t and the bravery of the defensive wall to charge down Stephen Kingsley’s last-gasp free kick summed up the Saints show .
Parish added: “You can’t gamble because he’s got so much quality that he can go either side. I think it was Charlie [Gilmour] who got his head to it in the wall.
“He was very close to getting it over and it would’ve taken a hell of a save for me to keep it out, so that could be such an important moment for us.
“That typified our whole performance. Putting everything on the line.”
Parish, on his fifth appearance this season, was an able deputy for injured first choice Zander Clark and he added: “It’s been hard for me to get in because the big man has been incredible.
“He’s been our best player. I’ve just got to step up when I’m needed, which has happened in the last two games.
“I don’t get the chance to contribute too often, so I’m delighted to be part of a draw and now, a big win.”
With the feelgood factor surging through the Perth squad, this Saturday’s clash against Ross County simply cannot come quickly enough for Davidson’s fired-up players.
Success in Dingwall would move Saints to within a point of safety and Parish said: “It’s been building.
“It could also have been three points the other night in Aberdeen had it not been for a soft penalty.
“Now we’ve got a mega game on Saturday. Win and we can really start to claw teams back into it.
“Getting to within one point of Ross County would be huge. We’d be flying.”
NO reminders should be required.
Scottish football should have been smart enough to realise some time ago that its match officials need all the help they can get their hands on.
But now that Glasgow’s noisy neighbours are involved in a title fight which, for the first time in more than a decade, seems destined to go down to the wire, it’s not promises of VAR tomorrow that our referees need. It’s a fake moustache and a place in the witness protection programme.
Yesterday provided a gentle pointer to what lies ahead now that this campaign is entering the finishing stretch.
Forget the fact Rangers took 29 shots at Dundee United’s goal and were only accurate enough to find the back of the net with one of them.
And don’t bother to point out that Celtic’s glass chin leaves them almost entirely unable to cope with set-pieces and cross balls as was showcased once again by two Dundee goals. You’re wasting your own time.
In this part of the world it’s the men in the middle who almost always have to shoulder the blame when the stakes are at their highest, as they will be between now and May.
Rangers believe they were denied two penalty kicks by Bobby Madden at Tannadice and even if only one of them belonged in the stonewall category – when sub Fashion Sakala was prevented from a simple tap-in by a blatant tug on his shirt – it might have been enough to turn one point into three.
And had Giorgos Giakoumakis not come up with a late winner to complete a hat-trick against Dundee, then Gavin Duncan’s decision not to award the Greek with a spot-kick near the end of the first half would have also come more sharply into focus.
In fact, Duncan also waved away Dundee’s claims for a penalty of their own in the dying seconds which could have helped Mark McGhee claim an unexpected share of the spoils in his first game in charge.
And it all serves as a reminder that somewhere down the line one of these poor sods in black outfits is about to make a splitsecond call which he will never be allowed to forget.
As the hysteria grows and anxiety levels soar going into the final 11 games of the season, so the scrutiny will intensify as night follows day.
In other words, our refs have been horribly short-changed by a penny-pinching approach to governance and now they are about to be exposed to the kind of open hostility which once led to them going on strike, way back in the dark old days before technology was good enough to help relieve some of the pressure. It’s a good thing, then, that the managers on either side of Glasgow’s melting pot, appear determined to remain level headed no matter how heated things may be about to become. Giovanni van Bronckhorst brushed aside questions about yesterday’s controversial moments by insisting there is nothing more for him to say where the introduction of TV replays is concerned.
He’s a firm believer in modernisation, not a conspiracy theorist with one eye fixed on the past.
In any case, the Dutchman had enough on his plate just processing the events of another drama-packed day. It’s a long way from Dortmund to Dundee – a 14-hour road trip covering close to 850 miles.
But Rangers also managed to travel back in time yesterday when they arrived on Tayside and ended up leaving another two league points behind.
This latest stumble may have felt like a flashback to the start of a title defence which showed early signs of distress at Tannadice way back in August.
And the misstep was compounded later in the afternoon when Celtic finally did away with the side from across the street to extend their lead at the top of the Premiership pile.
On the face of it then this was a fairly bleak Sunday for van Bronckhorst who has been around this block often enough in his own playing days to know how little leeway there is now that his first campaign as Ibrox boss is about to enter the finishing stretch.
But ultimately what he found out in the City of Discovery may not have been just as damaging or dispiriting as the 1-1 scoreline suggests, even if it presented Celtic with the chance to move three points clear at the summit.
That Ange Postecoglou and his players eventually grabbed it with both hands, after threatening to make heavy weather of it themselves, will have come as no surprise at all to van Bronckhorst, who would have suspected little else from the moment he climbed back on to the team bus and switched on the radio.
But even though he does have further reason to fret after failing to win a fourth successive away game over a potentially pivotal period in a title fight which offers little or no room for error, perversely, what he saw with his own eyes at Tannadice may also have offered him some comfort.
Back in August, when Steven Gerrard suffered defeat away to Dundee United, on just the second weekend of the season, it did feel at the time as if the man in charge was in danger of losing his way.
“It’s on me,” became his go-to catchphrase as one lacklustre, substandard performance followed the next so there was no lack of irony to the fact that he was heard muttering the same old lines on Saturday afternoon after his Aston Villa side were beaten at home by Watford.
The very sound of Gerrard resorting to the same old cliches may even have sent a shiver down the spine of some Rangers fans as they prepared to head back up the A9, as they were coming down from the almighty adrenalin rush they experienced in Germany on Thursday night when van Bronckhorst and his players gave them a night of all nights at the Westfalenstadion.
Yes, Rangers came crashing back down to earth on Tayside but, even despite the loss of another couple of crucial points, the relentlessly ferocious manner of this performance was enough to demonstrate a burning desire to go the distance.
Which was precisely what was missing from their last ill-fated visit under the previous manager.
For Postecoglou and Celtic, a rollercoaster afternoon ended with the win needed to help ease some of the nervous tension.
But it’s our referees and linesmen who are about to become collateral damage as this bad tempered battle rages towards its defining moments.
One of these poor sods will make a decision he will never be allowed to forget