St Johns first game back after the Christmas & New Year festivities against league leaders Bison. Not the easiest of games to kick off the new year but hey hum.

The St Johns playing squad had turned up en masse the Thursday before this game to work of their ‘bellies’ or in Ryan Orton’s case two bellies.

St Johns did not have the strongest of squads with a clutch of players missing for x, y & z reasons. Bison had already beaten St John’s twice this season, once in the cup & league so the teams knew a bit about each other.

Bison started the stronger of the two sides at the beginning of the game and forced corner after corner with some skilful play down the flanks. Add to this the height advantage Bison had man for man and St Johns were wobbling like a beer belly for the first fifteen minutes. Bison opened the score after a well worked free kick that was pumped to the back post of the St Johns box. Two Bison’s unfairly ganged up on Ryan Orton at the back post and after a cruel bobble the ball was crossed back across the face of the St Johns box. There were two Bison’s waiting at close range to head the ball in which one of them duly did. 0-1.

Things got brighter for St Johns as the first half wore on. In previous matches this season Bison had outplayed and out muscled St Johns in central midfield and so manager Aks decision to stick with the 4-5-1 looked to be working as Ralph, John Werbinski & Ryan ‘two bellies’ Orton fought tooth and claw to win control of that all important area of the pitch. Bison still threatened on several occasions testing ‘honest’ Scott Barton in the St Johns goal. One incident a Bison forward raced clear of the St Johns offside trap leaving St Johns central defenders Sabatino Ventre flapping wildly & Andy Bell blowing bubbles as they struggled to keep up. Luckily for St Johns Scott Barton saved superbly to keep St Johns in it.

This was a tight match thus far with Bison shading things, especially earlier on. One of the disadvantages for St Johns playing 4-5-1 was that the support for lone centre forward Nick Tilbury was non existent at times. Even St Johns central midfielder John Werbinski cut back on his forward forays to play a tight game. With both St Johns wingers tucked in and tracking back St Johns did not pose too much of an attacking force in the first half. Strangely the Bison defense started to look more and more nervy towards the end of the half which was not always down to St Johns applying pressure. On several occassions the Bison back four scuffed clearances or did not clear the ball at all. Taking advantage of all this mayhem was St Johns self styled messiah John Werbinski clearing up scraps like a hoover and probing for a chink in the Bison’s defense.

Half time came with St Johns looking in good shape physically and all in positive that they could get something out of this game. Make no mistake Bison could have been a few goals to the good if they had finished better but overall St John’s finished the half well.

The second half started with a blitz of the Bison goal by St John’s. The first ten minutes or so saw St Johns look really dangerous and peg Bison back and create a few good chances to boot. This was just what the doctor ordered. Would all of this St Johns pressure pay off or would Bison soak it all up a la last time and hit Johns on the break? The answer was an emphatic no as the St Johns defense had the Bison forwards in their pocket. Man of steel and captain of St Johns Andy Bell aided and abetted by Italian Stallion Sabatino Ventre were playing excellently at the back. Add to this good work from Johan Haynes and Matt ‘the moan’ Ellis and this gave St Johns a solid platform to get forward and grab a goal.

St Johns won a free kick just inside the Bison half. Hegarty shouted for the ball to be launched early and Sabatino duly launched a scud into the Bison box catching the Bison defense napping. Hegarty leapt like a stag and flicked on a juicy ball for someone to run onto. The messiah was on hand to nip in front of the Bison’s ‘tall Paul’ at left back and scuff a shot past the Bison keeper at close range. They all count!

This was just deserved based upon how St Johns had performed thus far. There were more chances for St Johns with Nick Tilbury having a good shot tipped over really well by the good Bison keeper. Not long after though the match degraded somewhat into a war of attrition with Bison keeping St Johns pegged back in their right back area for around fifteen minutes without really threatening the St Johns goal. The Bison's players looked to be getting irked at some of the refs decisions and started to bitch & whine at the man in black. This did them no favours and thereafter most of the 50/50’s went St Johns way much to the annoyance of everyone associated with Bison’s.

This match had 1-1 stamped all over it and so it finished with a draw just about the right result. It could have easily gone either way. This draw sustained St Johns unbeaten run to about six weeks or their last four matches. To get a draw away to the league leaders first game of the new year is no mean feat and St Johns players can be proud of their performance. There were mature performances all over from the St Johns players. Special mention must go to John Werbinski for gaining his third MoM award on the bounce. Running him a close second was captain Andy Bell, Ralph Pirie-Lewis & Scott Barton.

Can St Johns make it five unbeaten?

Match report by: Manager Aks