Outstanding performances from mediocre players

[I'm Brian]

Anyone remember that game where Junior Mendes had the game of his life. Terrorised the opposition defence with his pace, skill and trickery, scored a double and laid on two others....Nah me either.

I'm struggling to recall any here as our mediocre players over the years haven't been even that good.

Nigel Jemson's debut, late nineties, against Airdrie in a two nil victory where he scored both

Going back even further after the real dark days of Stainrod's time in charge, where we were routinely pumped by the leading lights of Scottish football such as Berwick, Forfar and Stranraer, Dalziel came in and signed a bunch of journeymen who did the job of keeping us up. Danny Diver was one such example and scored four in a game against (I think) Berwick. That was his only goals for us in a handful of games.

[gingapar]

Back when Ivan Sproule was tearing it up at Hibs, Scott Muirhead, a player who's only attribute we running fast in a straight line, would routinely have him in his back pocket. Muirhead was terrible against anyone else!

[Zing.]

Valdas Trakys away to the **** in a 3-0 win. He didn't score but he battered f**k out of their backline all night and was immense. Did the same against Motherwell the week after then returned to being utterly shite. Sure Yogi watched a five minute YouTube video of him and signed him up to replace Stokes. 

[NorthernJambo]

Look no further than Graham Weir. Sent off almost immediately in his debut but what was to come made it all okay. Hibs made 4-2 in the 92nd minute, Weir made it 4-4 within the last minute. A draw that felt like a win if ever there was one.

[Gaz FFC]

4 minutes ago, NorthernJambo said:

Look no further than Graham Weir. Sent off almost immediately in his debut but what was to come made it all okay. Hibs made 4-2 in the 92nd minute, Weir made it 4-4 within the last minute. A draw that felt like a win if ever there was one.

I was at that game.

Left at 3-2 

[NorthernJambo]

I was at that game.
Left at 3-2 

Sore one. I missed Weir's first as was on the way out. Managed to catch his second though!

[trainspotter]

34 minutes ago, I'm Brian said:

I'm struggling to recall any here as our mediocre players over the years haven't been even that good.

Older Dumbarton fans might argue about the description of mediocre, but scoring twice, on his debut, against Kilmarnock, is the only thing I can remember about Kenny Ashwood's time at Ayr.

[Poet of the Macabre]

9 hours ago, Sloop John B said:

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

10/10.

Dunfermline's candidate for this must be Liam Horsted. Joined on loan from Portsmouth at the start of the 05/06 season. We beat Dundee United in September and the left winger was sensational. I think Mark Wilson was the United right back and he was torn apart. I remember my brother and I being so excited about his potential.

Sadly, that was the only league game he played for the Pars that we didn't lose. Every other time I watched him, he was the drizzling shits. He eventually wound up at Oxford and then plodded around the English non-league.

[I'm Brian]

16 minutes ago, trainspotter said:

Older Dumbarton fans might argue about the description of mediocre, but scoring twice, on his debut, against Kilmarnock, is the only thing I can remember about Kenny Ashwood's time at Ayr.

Wee bit before my time that one(although I went to a few games they seemed to pass me by). Another one that has struck me was Andy Willock. McLeod signed him from Clyde. Game at Brockville where he was outstanding and scored the winner in a 1-0 win. He was utter pants the rest of his time.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

Tony Wallace v Airdrie in the playoff final (both legs).

A guy who had been a bit part central midfielder (and sometimes centre half) for us in the then 2nd division had to fill in on the wing due to injuries. I remember seeing the line up and thinking... 'f**k'.

He turned in 2 absolutely blinding performances. He made Paul Lovering look like an angry little boy and at one point, completely bulldozed him and sent him flying much to the amusement of everyone. He scored an absolute peach in the 2nd leg as well.

Much to everyones surprise he then rejected our contract and unbelievably Morton paid money for his services. I wasn't even fussed about him staying such was his average performance level over the season so to see Morton pay for him was a major surprise. Clearly the scouting consisted of watching both playoff games on Alba.

[Shandon Par]

Stephen Simmons was brutal. He did scored a double against Partick to knock them out of the cup though. Fortunately his booking for the celebration kept him out of the next round. 

[mackenzie43]

Could say Brian Kerr for hibs on his debut against hearts, scored the only goal of the game with a diving header, and turned out to be a bang average player

[Homer Thompson]

22 minutes ago, Shandon Par said:

Stephen Simmons was brutal. He did scored a double against Partick to knock them out of the cup though. Fortunately his booking for the celebration kept him out of the next round. 

SPL quality player, IMHO

[pleslie99]

 
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?
 
 
 
 

I played against John Stewart in an amateur game a few years ago (how the mighty have fallen) he was crap. We knew he was playing and we're obviously worried being an ex pro and would be head and shoulders above us, he done nothing in the game whatsoever!

[football maniac]

12 hours ago, Sloop John B said:

 

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?

 

This song was played after the semi final and it couldn't be more apt

 

 

[HoBNob]

SPL quality player, IMHO

When Jim McIntyre took over he had a brief resurgence of form and McIntyre offered him a contract, Simmons rejected it because he believed he would get a contract in the SPL.


Think it was Raith? Or yourselves he ended up at.

[parsforlife]

did he not go to queens, last 30 seconds before going to rovers.

[The Toun Clock]

4 hours ago, Poet of the Macabre said:

10/10.

Dunfermline's candidate for this must be Liam Horsted. Joined on loan from Portsmouth at the start of the 05/06 season. We beat Dundee United in September and the left winger was sensational. I think Mark Wilson was the United right back and he was torn apart. I remember my brother and I being so excited about his potential.

Sadly, that was the only league game he played for the Pars that we didn't lose. Every other time I watched him, he was the drizzling shits. He eventually wound up at Oxford and then plodded around the English non-league.

I sure I remember him playing against Killie at Rugby Park in the old CIS Cup. Think we were 3 up at HT and he had a stormer scoring one of the goals? Maybe wrong.

[Dunning1874]

Not so much mediocre as absolutely shite, Jonathan Page. Fans of every club we played that season will have fond memories of the shambolic Morton side in 13/14, which will be remembered as the worst in the club's history. Page was a strong contender for the worst player in that side, possibly only escaping that tag because Dunfermline were kind enough to take him off our hands in January whereas we had to put up with Marc Fitzpatrick for the whole season.

Despite being the worst Morton side ever, we did have the high point of punting Celtic out of the League Cup in their own midden. While pulling off that result required all the shite in that side to raise their game, some such as Kabba Modou-Cham only raised it to the dizzying heights of mediocrity. Page however was absolutely immense, an imperious performance as cross after cross came into the box and was dealt with - Celtic had 27 corners over the 120 minutes yet they still couldn't score thanks to ridiculous performances from Page and his centre back partner Tomas Peciar (who was also shite).

He also won possession in the lead-up to our penalty which won us the game: this clip starts with him effortlessly dispossessing Teemu Pukki and Anthony Stokes before we move up the park. Bonus appearance from Tony Wallace - mentioned by @Bring Back Paddy Flannery a few posts above - who plays the ball down the wing for Archie Campbell before Efe Ambrose falls over and Tom Boyd bursts into salty, salty tears on the commentary.

 

[HoBNob]

I sure I remember him playing against Killie at Rugby Park in the old CIS Cup. Think we were 3 up at HT and he had a stormer scoring one of the goals? Maybe wrong.

That was another guy wasn't it? I want to say that the player you're thinking off ended up at Swansea, Butler?