Friday 18th August, 2017 at 10:20am
Having been relegated in 1982, Thistle made a fairly praiseworthy attempt to regain top-flight status in the two following seasons, finishing 4th in 1982/83 and 3rd in 1983/84. Alas, thereafter it was all downhill for quite a few years and in the featured season we finished an inglorious 11th. St Johnstone were even worse and finished in 14th position.
This game was played, of course, at Muirton Park. The move to McDiarmid Park came along later. The rain pelted down relentlessly but it was a decent game nevertheless. Gordon Dalziel opened the scoring after 12 minutes and we held the lead until 11 minutes in to the second-half. It looked as if the game would finish all square at 1-1, and I would have been quite happy with that. Alas, with four minutes to go Caldwell struck for the home side, and my heart sank. Thistle weren’t finished, however. In the very next minute, up popped Gordon Dalziel with the equaliser. The full team was as follows:- John Brough(signed from Hearts after a masterful display in a reserve match at Firhill), David Walker, Peter Shields, Billy McLaren, Joe Carson, Kenny Watson, Alan Logan, Paul Donnelly, Ian Cochrane, Gordon Dalziel, Jimmy Gilmour. The substitutes were Paul McKenzie and Willie Herd, both of whom had to be committed before 25 minutes were on the clock.
Undoubtedly the star Thistle player at this time and for several of the ensuing years was Kenny Watson, who turned in a polished performance week after week.
At the time Thistle’s first choice strip was pale yellow, rather dull and insipid. I always thought, not at tall like the vibrant yellow worn, for example, at the time when we won the League Cup.
Just a thought and an easy question for you. Who is the player on the front cover? He played 155 times for Thistle and indeed captained the side on many occasions.
P.S. I forgot to mention that St Johnstone missed a penalty after just 7 minutes, so things could have been a lot worse.
Robert R
