Tuesday 14th July, 2015 at 3:27pm
Thistle played their first pre-season friendly against Eastleigh high on confidence following a closed doors win against Dumbarton last Saturday.
Alan Archibald lined up with two trialists in the starting line up, with both men keen to make an impression. Injury denied him of the services of both Christie Elliott and Dan Seaborne.
With a defensive rejig needed Thistle started the shakier of the two sides with Constable finding plenty of success in between the defence in the very early stages. Sean Welsh picked up the scraps from an Eastleigh break and played an excellent through ball to Booth. The charging defender controlled well before cutting back for Lawless, who took the opportunity to beat the defender twice, before slotting home into the far corner.
Eastleigh’s best chances were coming from set pieces but Cerny wasn’t really being tested when Thistle doubled their lead after 30 minutes. A recovering Eastleigh defender knocked the ball out for a corner, following a race with Thistle’s trialist number 9. From the resulting delivery Amoo fired it right on the head of Frans to knock into the top corner. Thistle were 2-0 up and more than deserving.
It could have been three had Noice in the home goal not dealt well with a stray passback.
Into the second half and the game take a noticeable downturn in pace as substitutions disrupted the flow the pace. Stevenson and Fraser both stung the palms of Eastleigh’s trialist goalkeeper with shots from range, while Thistle’s Czech goalkeeper was more than equal to anything the Conference side could throw at him.
The only downside for manager Alan Archibald was the withdrawal of a hobbling Liam Lindsay, more as a precaution than anything else, as the game fizzled out into a typical pre-season encounter.
Thistle will be pleased with their first half performance where they played some classy football and made a great impression on the 791 strong crowd at The Silverlake Stadium.
Next up for the side is a friendly away to Falkirk on Saturday.
