Outstanding performances from mediocre players

[Sloop John B]

 

Inspired from the best/worst performance thread, some players have games which defy their otherwise distinct lack of talent, not everyone can be Stephen Dobbie unfortunately. One big performance can change a perception of a player from carthorse to cult hero. Sometimes it's when the cameras are on that they manage to remember how to play football or when they have already been written off and on an otherwise forgettable midweek trip to Airdrie that said diddy plays a blinder and you seem mental trying to defend him when he's back to being absolutely rotten the next saturday.

An example of this is John Stewart, who for the vast majority of his time at  on loan at Queens was to put lightly a bit shit as he had been for most of his career scoring 1 goal in 16 league game  (Which was a bundled in goal from a yard out against Partick) splus a goal against Morton in the Scottish Cup. I only learned recently that Falkirk actually paid cash monies for him which makes zero sense at all.  He also was comfortably the oldest looking 23 year old in history

 

Except for one day on the 12th of April 2008, As a sub in the 2008 Scottish Cup Semi Final against Aberdeen, Stewart's opportunity seemed limited what with Stephen Dobbie and Sean O'Connor being quite good, however fate had it that Dobbie would get injured after 38 minutes with the scores at 1-1 so it was up to the unlikely hero to contribute against his former club and how!  Whether it was the big Hampden pitch playing into his main attribute speed, the oversized shit commemorative shirt Queens had commissioned for the game or just that Aberdeen just fucking love choking semi finals it remains unclear. The man looked like a man possessed, he absolutely burned Andy Considine for pace and squared it for Paul Burns to finish at the second attempt, he then scored the winner after the most mental 13 minutes of football of all time by blootering the ball past Derek Soutar and acted like scoring was a regular occurrence by bowing. 

After this brief 20 minutes of absolute brilliance he went to Ross County, then Peterhead, then Clyde, he dropped into the juniors where I assumed they have killed him for sport.

 

 

Any other examples of unremarkable player having truly remarkable performances?

 

 

 

 

[smpar]

Cammy Bell. Don't think I need to mention any particular game.

[Marshmallo]

Neil Scally was a career jobber who tried his best but ultimately struggled to complete passes or trap the ball or any of that sort of thing. He dominated the 2005 Challenge Cup Final scoring an absolute rocket of a goal from about 30 yards on the way to a MOTM performance in a Falkirk victory.

He also told my 9 year old wee brother that he "didny ken whit the f**k wis gawn oan" when asked if Kevin James was leaving the following summer.

Some boy.

[Elixir]

Wee banjo kid McGinn? Has there ever been a player to do so little as he has in a glorified pub league and yet be so overrated?

[sergie's no1 fan]

3 minutes ago, Elixir said:

Wee banjo kid McGinn? Has there ever been a player to do so little as he has in a glorified pub league and yet be so overrated?

You better not be talking about Meatball 

[craigkillie]

Jamie Smith for Aberdeen against FC Copenhagen.  He was one of those guys who showed little glimmers of talent ever now and then, but was generally a very average player.  His performance that night against Copenhagen was sensational though - he ran the show against a team which had quite a few relative big names.  I can't really remember him doing much of note after that, and he eventually went off to MLS.

[Marshmallo]

9 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

Jamie Smith for Aberdeen against FC Copenhagen.  He was one of those guys who showed little glimmers of talent ever now and then, but was generally a very average player.  His performance that night against Copenhagen was sensational though - he ran the show against a team which had quite a few relative big names.  I can't really remember him doing much of note after that, and he eventually went off to MLS.

 

He always used to roll off a stretcher to smack one in from 30 yards against us as well.

[Bairney The Dinosaur]

During John Stewart's time at Falkirk I somehow convinced myself that he was Mark Stewart's dad. Remember being disappointed that they rarely, if ever, played together as a father/son partnership.

[Rovers1992/1993]

Christian Nade is the perfect example of someone like this. Is a really mediocre player but when coming up against Hibs, every Rovers fan knew that we wouldn't lose the game, due to having Nade.

[Dindeleux]

Chris Templeman/Templeton? Morton beat us 3-1 in the Scottish Cup about 8 or 10 years ago (can't be arsed checking the date) and the big striker dominated our defence which included future Scotland cap Gordon Greer.

We were poor that day but Morton were superb and he scored two I think. I think he is highly rated in the lower leagues so maybe I'm being a bit unfair classing him as a mediocre player?

[Miguel Simao]

David Templeton - Scored the equalizer for Hearts in a MOTM worthy performance away at Anfield in The Europa League. A game in which the opposing team fielded an array of world class talent such as Luis Suarez, Steven Gerrard and Adam Morgan. David soon found his true level however, signing for some no mark upstart in the seaside leagues not long after. His current whereabouts are unknown.

[itzdrk]

25 minutes ago, Dindeleux said:

Chris Templeman/Templeton? Morton beat us 3-1 in the Scottish Cup about 8 or 10 years ago (can't be arsed checking the date) and the big striker dominated our defence which included future Scotland cap Gordon Greer.

We were poor that day but Morton were superb and he scored two I think. I think he is highly rated in the lower leagues so maybe I'm being a bit unfair classing him as a mediocre player?

Morton paid £100,000 (!!!!) for him. 

[Alan Stubbs]

1 hour ago, Elixir said:

Wee banjo kid McGinn? Has there ever been a player to do so little as he has in a glorified pub league and yet be so overrated?

We've had about 10 games against SPL teams (including a few against the JTs, up ye) and five against a then Championship team who are now second in the top flight, since McGinn signed for us. His reputation really seemed to made with his performances in these games. Some outstanding performances in there.

Not so much performances as individual moments but Galbraith away at Celtic and Ross Caldwell away at Hearts spring to mind. Popped up with a #limbs moment each, then almost immediately disappeared into obscurity.

 

[Lyle Lanley]

Galbraith's winner and the scenes that followed in the away end. 

 

Benji's performance in the 4-1 cup game against Aberdeen in 06/07 was pretty special. 

 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

2 hours ago, itzdrk said:

Morton paid £100,000 (!!!!) for him. 

IIRC it was 40k and the 100k total included signing on fee, wages, bonuses and more cash depending on club/player performances.

[itzdrk]

Ryan Boris v Dundee.  If you go to roughly 5 minutes.  He was really bad but very fast. Dragging us back from 2-0 down against Dundee (Jocky in cherge).  

Overhead kick cross 

If you go with currently mediocre players then Ryan Stevenson had a great game here too.  

 

[Falkirkyabass]

Mind when Mark Stewart came on as a sub for Tam McManus in a cup game against Hearts and had the game of his life scoring the winner in the last minute?

[ajwffc]

Mind when Mark Stewart came on as a sub for Tam McManus in a cup game against Hearts and had the game of his life scoring the winner in the last minute?

No can't remember him doing anything noteworthy

[Monkey Tennis]

7 hours ago, Sloop John B said:

 

An example of this is John Stewart, who for the vast majority of his time at  on loan at Queens was to put lightly a bit shit as he had been for most of his career scoring 1 goal in 16 league game  (Which was a bundled in goal from a yard out against Partick) splus a goal against Morton in the Scottish Cup. I only learned recently that Falkirk actually paid cash monies for him which makes zero sense at all.  He also was comfortably the oldest looking 23 year old in history

 

Except for one day on the 12th of April 2008, As a sub in the 2008 Scottish Cup Semi Final against Aberdeen, Stewart's opportunity seemed limited what with Stephen Dobbie and Sean O'Connor being quite good, however fate had it that Dobbie would get injured after 38 minutes with the scores at 1-1 so it was up to the unlikely hero to contribute against his former club and how!  Whether it was the big Hampden pitch playing into his main attribute speed, the oversized shit commemorative shirt Queens had commissioned for the game or just that Aberdeen just fucking love choking semi finals it remains unclear. The man looked like a man possessed, he absolutely burned Andy Considine for pace and squared it for Paul Burns to finish at the second attempt, he then scored the winner after the most mental 13 minutes of football of all time by blootering the ball past Derek Soutar and acted like scoring was a regular occurrence by bowing. 

After this brief 20 minutes of absolute brilliance he went to Ross County, then Peterhead, then Clyde, he dropped into the juniors where I assumed they have killed him for sport.

A brilliant summation of the contribution of John Stewart.

[bunglebonce]

John Stewart is probably the worst forward I've seen play for Ross County.  His one goal from six appearances happened to be the club's 1000th since joining the SFL.