Match Reports
17 July 2007 | Friendly
Ochilview Park | Attendance: 456
Partick Thistle Football Club
Stenhousemuir
2
2
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| Referee | Euan Morris | Assistant Referees | Stephen Mitchell & Alasdair Ross | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Match Scoring | Thistle - Scott Chaplain 2 minutes Thistle - Trialist 22 minutes Stenhousemuir - Dempster 29 minutes Stenhousemuir - Hampshire 31 minutes |
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Match Report Despite a bright opening and a two goal lead inside the first 25 minutes of the game Thistle had to settle for a draw in their second pre-season friendly of the season. Both Liam Buchanan and John Robertson were carrying minor knocks and were left out as precautionary measures. The two trialists that played against Montrose, David Rowson and Gary Harkins, took up places on the bench for this game but there were starting slots for three ‘mystery’ trialists who had arrived at Firhill earlier in the day. Thistle made an excellent start to this game and were a goal up after approximately 90 seconds. Ex Jag John Hillcoat did well to claw a Simon Donnelly header from a Stevie Murray cross round the post for a corner but it was from that corner that Thistle took the lead. Simon Donnelly swung the ball across and after Stevie Murray’s flick had struck the post Scott Chaplain was on hand to lift the ball into the roof of the net. Thistle continued to impress in the opening stages of the game and came close to doubling their lead after 4 minutes. Graham Gibson set up the trialist number nine but his shot was blocked by Hillcoat. Two minutes later Graham Gibson got his head to a Simon Donnelly free kick but his header crept over the bar. It took Thistle until the 22nd minute to score the second goal that their early enterprising play clearly merited. The trialist number nine latched onto a Graham Gibson through ball before tucking the ball confidently behind Hillcoat. Thistle looked set to stroll to a win under the summer sun at this point and indeed came close to a third goal in the 26th minute when a Simon Donnelly corner only needed a touch to produce a goal. Stenhousemuir though were back in the game in the 29th minute. Alan Archibald was penalised for handball and John Dempster slotted the penalty home. Two minutes later the scores were tied. Stevie Hampshire collected a cross from the left before firing past Tuffey and into the net. Thistle twice came close to restoring their lead before half-time. Stevie Murray set up the trialist striker who was a little unlucky to see his cross hacked clear. Simon Donnelly was similarly unfortunate with the half-time whistle fast approaching. The first 45 minutes of this game had been highly entertaining with Thistle producing some excellent football. The second half though didn’t quite reach the same heights. Gary Harkins, who had replaced the injured Marc Twaddle in the first half, was joined by a further five Thistle subs and perhaps because of that Thistle lacked a little of the cohesion of the first half. They remained though the better of the two teams. Adam Strachan wasted a promising opportunity after 62 minutes and the trialist midfielder saw a powerful shot deflected for a corner 6 minutes later. Thistle’s best chance of the second half though came the way of Stevie Murray in the 69th minute. Set up by Ryan McStay his finish lacked a little composure and the opportunity was lost. The last chance of the game came the way of the home side and it took an excellent block from Scott Boyd to prevent Hampshire from getting his shot on target. This was without doubt a much improved Thistle performance. Middle to front some of Thistle’s play offered much optimism for the season ahead. Defensively though a little work requires to be done ahead of the start of the season. Next up is Falkirk at Firhill on Thursday evening. |
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