Friday 4th November, 2016 at 8:00am
Trailing 1-0 at half-time to a goal by Billy Dodds, Thistle came back strongly after the interval and eventually emerged worthy winners thanks to two quick-fire goals, one from the ever-dangerous Albert Craig and the winner from a much less likely source – Andy Gibson. We had signed him from Aberdeen, so as so often seems to happen in football, he had come back to haunt his former club. It has to be said that Andy never really settled at Thistle, scoring only once more during his time at Firhill. I lost track of him for a while, until we travelled to Peterculter in November 2011 to take on Culter in the 3rd Round of the Scottish Cup. Andy was co-manager of the hosts at the time. We’ll say no more about that match, which finished 1-1. Believe me, it was perilously close to being a complete disaster. Fortunately, we won the replay in a canter – 4-0.
Reverting to the featured match, Thistle fielded the following team:- Craig Nelson, Kevin McKee, Alan Dinnie, Gregg Watson, Willie Jamieson, Derek McWilliams, Rod McDonald, Albert Craig, Andy Gibson, Ian Cameron, Chic Charnley.
Some eyebrows may be raised that Roddy Grant wasn’t in the team. The explanation is that he was suspended at the time. Incidentally, Roddy is now an Associate Director at St Johnstone. We met up with him at the match in Perth last Saturday.
Come the end of the 1994/95 season, Thistle finished above Aberdeen, but only just. We were 8th and the Dons 9th in what you have to remember was a 10-club league. They survived the play-off against Dunfermline Athletic, while Dundee United were relegated – no further comment.
Robert R
