Dangerous Mistakes: Caley 1-2 St. Mirren

By: Ian Rose | September 13th, 2008

Well, that was just poor. We came into this match fully expecting to win it, a home match against a struggling side, surely one of the favorites for relegation, who have only managed one goal from four matches so far in the SPL. Make no mistake – these are points dropped, and we’ll miss them before this campaign is through.

Caley started well, dominating possession early. Craig Brewster’s pick of Jamie Duff and Phil McGuire for the central defense seemed to be a wise one, as Mikey Fraser’s goal was hardly bothered in the first half. Adam Rooney slotted home a penalty in the 43rd, after Franco Miranda’s hatchet-job on Garry Wood. A deserved penalty, and at that point, a deserved 1-0 lead. And that’s how it stood at the interval – all was right with the world. As a side bit of trivia, that penalty happened to be the 6,000th goal scored since the SPL was formed in 1998.

The second half was, as you might imagine from the scoreline, a different matter. It started well enough, with a rash of Caley attacks forcing some very good saves from Buddies keeper Mark Howard. Just after the hour mark, though, Billy Mehmet turned the tide, netting his (and St. Mirren’s) second goal of the season. A disappointed Caley Thistle looked, in many ways, already beaten, and 19 minutes later, the Buddies made it official, with a rocket from Garry Brady’s foot into the roof of the net.

It was a particularly tough day for Caley keeper Mikey Fraser. Not only did he concede twice, but he didn’t actually register a save the entire match. It’s one thing if your keeper never touches the ball – it’s quite another if he only touches it when he retrieves it from the netting.

The real culpability on defense, though, goes to Phil McGuire. He was slow and easily beaten for long stretches of the second half, and when he had a chance to make up for the mistake that led to St. Mirren’s winning goal, he blew it. The ball came to his feet just in front of Howard’s net with just minutes left in the match, and he whiffed it high. I called before the match for a central defensive pairing of Grant Munro and Jamie Duff, and I saw nothing today to change my mind, and a number of things to reinforce my belief.

This is a tough one. The season-ending draw at home to St. Mirren was disappointing enough, but this is a team we should beat in Inverness. Points dropped, and a place in the table lost, as Hamilton jumps to 5th place and pushes Caley into 6th. In other SPL news, Rangers and Celtic both won, so Rangers stay on top by three points. Falkirk finally got a win, over Hearts, which pushed Dundee United into the relegation spot, a shocker for the side that so many picked for a European place.

As you can see from the season progress stats, we are obviously still on a much better start than the dismal one last season, but in terms of comparable fixtures, there’s reason to be concerned. Our first home match with St. Mirren last season was a 1-0 win for the Caley, so we lost ground this week against last year’s record. And we’ll have a harder test next week as we head to Tynecastle to take on Michael Stewart and Hearts. Mon the Caley.

Season Progress:
At this point last season: 5 matches played, 0 points, 2 goals for, 11 goals against
This season: 5 matches played, 7 points, 6 goals for, 5 goals against

Comparable fixtures last season: 5 matches played, 9 points, 6 goals for, 2 goals against
Comparable fixtures this season: 5 matches played, 7 points, 6 goals for, 5 goals against