Ground 17: McDiarmid Park

Game: St Johnstone 0 v 1 Hibernian

Date: Wednesday 28^th November 2012

Competition: Scottish Premier League

Attendance: 3266

Admission: £22

Programme: £2

This isn’t going to be much of a match report. In the first instance, Perth was freezing and it was a much better use of my time keeping my hands warm in their gloves than getting my phone out to make notes, but more realistically, the game was rotten.

I’ve always had a soft spot for St Johnstone ever since my parents told me we used to live across the room from their old ground, Muirton Park (now a supermarket). It may have only been for the first ten weeks of my life, but I’m a romantic about these things and so a little affinity with the Perth Saints was formed. Another reason is that on long journeys to visit grandparents in Elgin, there was still a sense of excitement from my brother and I seeing football grounds from a distance, and you see McDiarmid Park as you speed around Perth on the A9.

I’ve been to McDiarmid Park on numerous occasions, although I cannot remember once being warm, and previously we would sit in the Willie Ormond Stand and the games were usually so dire that my younger self would be captivated by the animations on the scoreboard at the other end. Sadly, the scoreboard has been downgraded to only show the score.

Hibs fans for this game were housed in the North Stand as the Ormond was closed and after paying £5 for the pleasure of parking, we sorted our dinner of a pie and drink (both not bad, and reasonably priced also) and took our seats.

Our pre-match entertainment consisted of the Glenalmond School pipe band and truthfully, they offered much more entertainment that either St Johnstone or Hibs in the first half. A lack of composure and propensity to play aimless high and long balls meant that the game never really got going. I’m sure there are some excuses to be found – lack of squad depth, cumulative fatigue and weather conditions that weren’t conducive to a quality game of football, but the summation at the end of the first half was, “well that was dreadful.”

Most of the second half wasn’t much better but the game sprung to life when St Johnstone were awarded a penalty. Even from the other end of the park it was clear that the referee had made the correct decision as David Wotherspoon suffered a moment of madness tripping up Dave Mackay. Nigel Hasselbaink lined up the spot kick only to see his effort saved by Hibs keeper Ben Williams, who was alert to make another save from the rebound.

Moments later, Hibs broke further up the field and midfielder Paul Cairney managed to trickle an effort (it felt like the shot was taking place in slow motion) past Alan Mannus in the Saints goal.

The game ended with further incidents, with David Robertson of St Johnstone breaking his leg and Dave Mackay being sent off for an off-the-ball incident to which everyone was quite bemused by what got him so exorcised that he tried to headbutt Leigh Griffiths.

Another ground, a poor game and ultimately a Hibs smash-and-grab. Up until the goal this was looking to be the poorest game of the season so far, but I can’t pretend to be impartial, you always enjoy games a lot more when your team gets the three points!