Partick Thistle WFC v Montrose WFC – 19th October 2025

A week on from a keenly contested derby day against Glasgow City, Partick Thistle were
back on their own home soil as they welcomed Montrose to Petershill Park.

The afternoon’s opposition were looking to find a run of form, having entered the match off the back of a 7-0 defeat to Hearts in the previous round of fixtures. Like Thistle, a tough run of games had seen the ‘Mo fall foul to some harsh scorelines, leaving only a point separating them and the Jags ahead of a drizzly afternoon in Glasgow.

Despite a strong opening for the Jags, it was the visitors who opened the scoring in the 5th minute of proceedings. Breaking down the far side, Montrose forced themselves into the box, the cross placed perfectly for the inbounding McDonald-Nguah whose forceful header looped above the surrounding jerseys before bobbling into the net to put thistle on the back foot.

From the goal, thistle looked to settle back into the game and find their bearings in their attacking half as the loose shot from distance dwindles past the post. Making use of the entire surface, play was threaded through the lines before eventually finding King whose quick pass at the edge of the box in Tweedie’s direction was halted by the offside flag.

Undetterred, the jags were immediately back on the break as King again paced towards the box before going to ground, the claims for a free quick promptly waved off by the officials.

With the half hour mark approaching it had fallen fairly even for both sides. Whilst Thistle looked were making the more notable threats into the final third, the Montrose defence had felt firm, denying any notable goal scoring opportunities. The visitors weren’t stranger to their own attack either as the looped pass made its way into open space nearing the corner flag, paced just too quickly for McDonald-Nguah to get on the end of to give thistle some breathing space.

The sounding of the half time whistle wrapped upon opening 45 minutes in which thistle had struggled to find their feet. Haven fallen behind early on, they by no means looked out of the tie, however the passages of play lacked that clinical touch to draw level. Despite this, they looked to grow more comfortable on the ball as the game drew on, with a handful of pushes towards goal but either harsh passes or interceptions denied them the chance to even threaten the Montrose goal as they entered the tunnel on the back foot.

The defensive work of thistle was again being tested as the second half got underway, the backline forcing the turn of play before having to header away the threat in front of goal. On the counter however, thistle had begun to pose more of a threat as the quick one-two saw Rennie sneak around the back line for the through pass, the cross intercepted before the resulting corner met the same fate.

With the hour mark nearing, a quick curling pass from slater found itself in a sea of jerseys, the most clinical touch taking a thistle player to ground for the free kick. Sent bounding in from distance by Rennie, it rattled the cross bar before falling back into play, landing awkwardly to halt any chances at a rebound as it faltered out of play for the goal kick.

Despite things looking more promising for thistle, their mountain to climb grew even higher in the 69th minute as play from the back saw them make their way through the Thistle lines, receiving the ball on the spin, McDonald-Nguah fired low from the edge of the box and into the bottom corner to double the visitors advantage.

Frustration continued to grow for the Jags as an almost mirrored reflection of the first half saw them reach into threatening positions, hampered only by the clinical touch to get them near a chance at goal. The opposition didn’t look to settle for just the two goals either, as they claimed possession from the back and threaded the through ball into the box but there was no one there to take up on the chance.

With the minutes dwindling down, thistle got the ball into space, the pass releasing defender Slater who drove from the thistle backline to the Montrose box, her forceful cross stopped in its tracks by the opposing defence to deny them once more.

Despite a flurry of late pressure from thistle, the full-time whistle rounded out a frustrating afternoon in where Partick Thistle struggled to hit the ground running. Even after going behind early on, they just couldn’t find the all-important break that would get them into a contending position to threaten goal, resulting ultimately in a quiet afternoon for the Montrose keeper. Despite this, there were moments of a complete team performance as play worked through the lines, but Partick Thistle will view it as perhaps an opportunity missed to make an impact on the SWPL1 standings.

Partick Thistle will open up their November account with an away trip to face Hibernian on the 2nd , kick off 2pm.