Friday 2nd February, 2018 at 9:00am
Fir Park has not been the happiest of hunting grounds for Thistle in recent form, but there have been times further back when we have claimed the spoils, in this case the two points(Too early for 3 points for a win), so it’s nice to look back and fire ample praise to those in red and yellow who won this featured match, except for the fact that they didn’t wear our traditional colours at all, turning out in an all-white strip, with Alan Rough sporting a blue jersey and yellow shorts. There was no scoring in the first-half, but Alex O’Hara struck immediately after the interval to give Thistle some breathing space and at the same time something to hang on to. This we did successfully, but it wasn’t enough to win us the section. Perhaps our indifferent form in the League Cup should have set the alarm bells ringing for the forthcoming Premier League fixtures. We were also kidded on perhaps by the fact that we beat Motherwell at Firhill also, by 2 goals nil this time. However, we lost home and away to Dundee United and Ayr United, and that was extremely disappointing.
Let’s not detract from the fact that the lads went through to Fir Park and did what was asked of them, nothing flamboyant, just a sound workman like performance. In goal was Alan Rough, while the full-backs were David McKinnon and Brian Whittaker, who was ordered to an early bath by referee Timmons from Kilwinning, having amassed two yellows. The ever-reliable Jackie Campbell and Andy Anderson were in central defence. In midfield we had Jamie Doyle, Ian McDonald and Kenny Watson. Something very unusual happened here. The most reliable left foot in the business missed a penalty-kick three minutes from full-time. Also playing were Maurice Johnston, Alex O’Hara and George Clark. Looking back on it, we had (on paper) a pretty decent team. What went so drastically wrong that we were relegated at the end of the season? Remember, however, that two teams were automatically relegated out of ten – a pretty drastic casualty rate. In those days there was no escape route via the play-offs (who mentioned that nasty word?).
Moving swiftly on, let’s hope for a strong performance when we make the short trip to Fir Park tomorrow.
Robert R.
