Friday 17th November, 2017 at 9:00am
Going into this match Thistle held a one-goal advantage, having won the first leg 2-1 at Firhill the previous week. A draw would therefore be enough to see Thistle progress to the next round of a competition which I found interesting. It provided something different, a chance to see a variety of teams one would otherwise only read about, an opportunity for crazy football enthusiasts to tick some otherwise unattainable boxes. For instance, in the next round Thistle met Mansfield Town. How else would you have had the chance to see ‘the Stags’, especially at Field Mill? Sadly, it didn’t prove to be a lucky ground for Thistle. Yet again we failed in the penalty shoot-out – sound familiar?
Reverting to the featured match, Thistle still held the one-goal advantage until the 75th minute when Eamonn Bannon gave Hearts the lead, thus levelling the tie. However, Thistle weren’t having any of that and at the death, up popped the dangerous Dougie Somner to ensure Thistle’s passage into the next round. The full team was as follows: – Alan Rough, Dave McKinnon, Brian Whittaker, Jackie Campbell, John Marr, Alex O’Hara, Bobby Houston, Jim Melrose, Dougie Somner, Ronnie Sheed, Denis McQuade.
One of those names is perhaps less familiar to you than others, namely that of Ronnie Sheed, who joined Thistle from Kilmarnock , but played only eleven first-team matches. I remember he scored the only goal of the game at Motherwell in the opening game of the 1978/79 season.
Featuring for Hearts in the chosen match was winger, Donald Park, popular at one time with Jags supporters.
The Tynecastle chairman was none other than Mr. Robert Parker. Bobby, as we knew him, played 145 games for Thistle, including the Summer Cup Final in which we defeated Hibernian 2-0, before he moved to Hearts in an exchange deal which saw the flying American outside-left, Jimmy Walker, join Thistle. I have never seen a Thistle player with such electrifying pace and he could finish too – 121 goals in 248 games – amazing. Will there ever be a modern reincarnation of the Anglo-Scottish Cup? I doubt it. Or even another Summer Cup?
Challenge: – Who is the no. 9 on the front cover? He played for neither Hearts or Thistle.
Robert R.
