Saturday 12th July, 2014 at 6:36pm
In a game that started off in a much more even fashion than it began the strength and depth of the Championship side’s squad shone through as the south coast side ran out 4-0 winners.
The first half was very even for the most part with much of the game being played in midfield. The Scottish Premiership team matched Brighton for more than 40 minutes. In truth it was a 45 minutes that contained few chances.
Thistle, who were already struggling with injuries were further hampered when one of their trialists was forced off after 15 minutes with a thigh strain. Youngster Keenan was his replacement and he more htan filled the gap for the remainder of the half.
The first real chance fell to Brighton after a ball into the Thistle box wasn’t dealt with properly ad the resulting shot was blocked by Balatoni on its way into the back of the net.
It was then Thistle’s chance to go close with a Fraser cross just going over Doolan’s head, before another cross, this time from Higginbotham, clipped the bar before Elliott’s follow up shot was blocked inside the six yard box. Gary Fraser also had a shot fly just wide after 36 minutes and it looked like Thistle were going to match the Championship side until half time.
Sami Hypia’s side had other ideas though and when Solomon March’s looping cross found Craig Mackail-Smith unmarked in the box he didn’t think twice before slotting it low past Scott Fox.
Thistle probably would have taken 1-0 at half time but would have been disappointed to concede a second. Brighton won a corner and, although the first ball was met by a Thistle head the defence couldn’t deal with it when it dropped and Gordon Greer rose to meet it and head it home.
After half time Brighton made a raft of substitutions but didn’t look like taking the foot off the gas. If anything the fresh legs proved more problematic for the tiring Thistle team and on 50 minutes they got their third. It was Fenelon this time, with another header, this time from just inside the six yard box, and it was difficult to say that it wasn’t deserved after he had two other shots charged down minutes earlier.
From there on Thistle struggled to deal with Brighton’s attacking threat and, on 80 minutes, Thistle gave the ball away in their own half and Charlie Harris laced a 20 yard strike into the top corner to make it 4-0.
The closing 10 minutes were seen out at a slow pace mostly with simple midfield passing until, in the 87th minute Bruno hit a shot that required a top save from Fox to stop the deficit hitting five.
In the end it was a deserved win for Brighton but the score line was certainly harsh on Thistle whose first half display itself deserved a goal.
