Saturday 20th July, 2013 at 1:56pm
Thistle suffered defeat in their latest pre-season outing; their first visit to Gayfield Park, Arbroath for over 11 years.
Injury deprived manager Alan Archibald of the services of Sean Welsh, Stuart Bannigan and Mark Kerr while Steven Lawless was left out with his partner due to give birth.
There was, however, a place in the starting line-up for new loan signing Henoc Mukendi.
This wasn’t a game that is likely to linger long in the memory. In the opening 45 minutes Thistle were able to enjoy the vast majority of the possession but they weren’t able to create many clear openings in front of the Arbroath goal and when they did they rarely called the home keeper into any serious action.
The first half chance of the game came Christie Elliott’s way in the 9th minute when he was able to collect a poor clearance from the keeper but he sent his shot over the bar.
James Craigen did force Morrison in the Arbroath goal into a save after 17 minutes but there was no real pace in his shot after Aaron Sinclair had spotted Craigen to his left.
Five minutes later the clearest opening yet arrived for Thistle but despite getting a clear look at goal Christie Elliott was unable to hit target from about 15 yards out.
Ross Forbes saw a deflected effort saved after Mukendi had set him up and in the last action of the first half the on loan Liverpool player was again involved; this time setting up Christie Elliott for a shot that Morrison needed two attempts to save.
The lack of urgency that had marked the first half was again notable after the interval and when a goal did arrive, in the 58th minute, it was a somewhat unexpected strike; not least because it came from the home side. Scott Fox had until this point been a virtual spectator and he could only watch too as Graham Bayne was able to divert a cross from the left wide of hime and into the net.
The loss of that goal did inject a little more urgency into Thistle’s play and John Baird was unlucky not to equalise at the back post after Mukendi had headed a Ross Forbes free kick into his path.
Substitutes David Wilson and Declan McDaid impressed when they came off the bench during the second half. Wilson’s first involvement in the game was to force Morrison into a low save down to his right and a beautifully judged ball from the midfielder nearly conjured up an equaliser with 8 minutes remaining, only for one of the trialist subs to see his shot blocked.
Christie Elliott saw a shot blocked by the legs of Morrison and Declan McDaid sent a shot over the bar after he cut inside from the left.
It was McDaid too that was involved in the move that nearly produced a Thistle equaliser with just a minute of the game remaining. The former Morton youngster was able to set up the trialist striker who was desperately unfortunate to see his net bound shot take a deflection off a defender and strike the crossbar.
