Tuesday 24th October, 2017 at 9:05am
It was so frustrating. Beyond 1983/84 through the 1980’s Thistle consistently finished 8th in the First Division, even on one occasion (1984/85) tumbling to an inglorious 11th. Season 1989/90 was no exception to this mediocrity. At the end of the season, there we were again, in our now customary position – 8th. Despite this, there were from time to time some good performances and the featured match helps us to remember one of them. Could we sustain this improvement the following week? Well, the answer to that is a resounding no. The next match produced the following outcome – Meadowbank Thistle 1 Partick Thistle 1 – hardly inspiring! However, let’s give credit where credit is due. On a pleasant September afternoon, we swept Hamilton Accies away in the final 15 minutes of the first-half. Hamilton captain Willie Jamieson, having won the toss, chose to shoot up the Douglas Park slope in the first half. This is normal practice, to keep the perceived advantage for the second-half. This was certainly the case with Hibernian’s Easter Road and perhaps to a lesser degree with Stirling Albion’s Annfield and at Stark’s Park in Kirkcaldy, plus of course the two Dundee clubs. Accies plan backfired spectacularly. Thistle showed no mercy and, as I have said, were 3-0 up by halftime. Calum Campbell struck in 30 and 36 minutes and Alan Dinnie added a third four minutes from the interval. Alan was of course a resolute defender and didn’t come up with many goals in his Thistle career – 5 to be precise, in 189 appearances.
Hamilton put a brake on the Thistle juggernaut when Morrison pulled a goal back in 57 minutes, only for Gary Peebles to re-assert Thistle’s superiority with a 4th goal after 80 minutes. I should perhaps say superiority on the day, because at the end of the season Hamilton finished 6th and what about Thistle? – yes you’ve guessed it – 8th!
What about the Thistle line up? Here it is – Andy Murdoch, Alan Dinnie, Bobby Smith, Jim Kerr, Roddy McDonald, Alex Kennedy, Brian Wright, Gary Peebles, Calum Campbell, John Flood, Chic Charnley.
Many of you will recall these players even 28 years on. Let us remember especially Bobby Smith who is no longer with us. He served Thistle well following his move from Hibernian.
A final word on the chosen match. It was, of course, played at the old Douglas Park.
Robert R
