Friday 9th December, 2022 at 11:05pm
With one side of the pitch at the K-Park covered in frost this game only got the final go ahead after a pitch inspection conducted by the match officials. With the temperature dropping to well below zero during the match the underfoot conditions didn’t improve either making for a tricky 90 minutes for both sets of players to contend with.
Of the two teams it was the home side that had the better of arguably the first two thirds of the game. They were close to taking a lead inside the game’s first two minutes when an audacious long range effort from McDonald-Nguah looked destined for the back of the net only for Megan Cunningham to make an excellent one handed save.
Cunnigham remained the busier of the two goalkeepers during a first half where Thistle were guilty at times of conceding possession far too cheaply. That said the Thistle custodian was never overly tasked and by and large the Thistle defence kept Motherwell at arm’s length.
Motherwell keeper Mutch was untroubled too during the opening 45 minutes although she had to make a smart intervention at her front post to claim a Rachel Donaldson cross after Thistle’s best move of the match had the full width of the pitch.
Cara Henderson too had an opportunity for Thistle when after collecting a Rebecca McGowan pass at the right hand corner of the Motherwell penalty area she saw her left foot shot deflected just wide of the post.
The biggest threat to the Thistle goal in the first half came after 33 minutes when Donaldson’s under hit pass intended for Cheryl McCulloch was adjudged to have been a pass back when Cunningham gathered earning Motherwell an indirect free kick inside the Thistle penalty box. The Thistle defensive wall though did its job blocking McDonald-Nguah’s shot after the ball had been touched back to her.
The game had just passed the hour mark when the home side took the lead.
Thistle didn’t effectively clear a free kick launched deep into the box, and when the ball broke to Watson her low drive found the net despite the best efforts of Cunningham to keep the ball out.
Thistle hadn’t been anywhere near their best up to this point, but that goal seemed to jolt them into a positive reaction.
Abbie Ferguson’s header from a Donaldson cross dropped wide of goal and Donaldson herself saw a free kick from the corner of the box go over the bar.
There was just 6 minutes left on the clock when Thistle drew level. Linzi Taylor was the scorer but the opportunity was created by two of Brian Graham’s second half substitutes. Kaitlyn Canavan headed the ball on for Taylor Fisher with Fisher’s cross from the left flicked home by Taylor from inside the 6 yard box.
There were no wild celebrations from Thistle who wanted the game restarted so they could push for a winner, and they were close to finding that winning goal. This time it was Donaldson with the cross from the left with Taylor again the recipient. In collecting the ball at the back post though Taylor’s touch was marginally less than perfect and on an increasingly difficult pitch that meant a delayed shot and the side netting rather than the back of the net.
Had the game continued for a further 5 minutes Thistle may well have claimed all three points but the single point gathered keeps them in fifth in the league with just one more match of 2022 to be played.
