OUR fifth day of pictorial pearls from the Saints archives sees guest of honour Lord Derby being presented to the team before the first ever Premiership Trophy Final against Leeds.

Kel Coslett is the skipper as he introduces full back Geoff Pimblett to the big match dignitaries at Central Park.

It is from May, 1975 and Saints went into the match as newly-crowned First Division Champions having finished 11 points clear of Wigan on the table.

When Saints won the Wigan Sevens> 

They lost only three of their 30 league games that season - but surprisingly they had come unstuck in the knockout arena.

Second division sides Workington and Swinton inflicted first round knockouts in the Lancashire Cup and John Player Trophy respectively.

Salford knocked them out of the BBC2 Floodlit Trophy in the second round, the same stage at which Eric Ashton's men exited the Challenge Cup at Wakefield.

So having beaten Oldham, Bradford Northern - after a replay - and Wigan en route, Saints had one more shot at knockout silverware.

Alas, Leeds started too strongly for Saints and built up a 16-0 lead at the break in front of a 14,531 crowd for the end of season finale.

Second half tries from Les Jones, Jeff Heaton and Roy Mathias were mere consolations in the 26-11 defeat.

As a footnote, Saints more than made up for it on the knockout stage the following year!