Friday 6th March, 2020 at 8:00am
Scottish Championship
5th January 2019
Dundee United 1 Partick Thistle 1
Taking a point away from Tannadice is usually a fairly satisfying outcome. Of course, to bring three down the road is even better. On this occasion we had witnessed a hard-fought encounter with honours even. We got off to a great start, taking the lead after just nine minutes, courtesy of a strike by Kris Doolan. Yes, the man with the magic touch anywhere in the penalty-box. Given half a chance and there’s a fair possibility the ball will finish in the back of the net. Thistle fans revelled in that over 100 times.
The featured match was keenly contested with the result probably about right. We fielded the following eleven: – Conor Hazard(dodgy name for a last line of defence, don’t you think?), Christie Elliott, James Penrice, Sean McGinty, Blair Spittal, Stuart Bannigan, Kris Doolan, Gary Harkins, Craig Slater, Miles Storey, Steven Saunders.
I note a slightly strange comment within the match programme:- Whilst Kris Doolan has never been a prolific marksman, he has always chipped in with his fair share of goals. I suppose it depends on your definition of the word prolific!
Thistle held the lead until the 62nd minute when we had a penalty-kick awarded against us, which was a bit soft, although not altogether of the marshmallow variety. Anyway, Mr Madden pointed to the spot and Fyvie made no mistake. The home side had their tails up now and there were a few anxious moments before the final whistle sounded.
Thistle wore their change strip of the time. I would described it as slate-blue. Playing in alternative outfits is quite popular nowadays even when there is no significant colour clash. Our preferred change stripe, going back a few years, was navy with white sleeves, like Hibernian used to wear only in green or Arsenal in red. In my younger days, goalkeepers almost always wore yellow, except for the Queen’s Park custodian whose jersey was black with a broad white band around the middle.
That’s enough fashion news for the moment. Football is about players and at the end of the day results. One goal each in the featured match represented a god enough result. Interestingly, the Dundee United line-up contained two former Thistle players Callum Booth and Frederic Frans, or Freddy as we called hi. Not the correct spelling, including the two accents. My background means I tend to be fussy about things like that. Hope you don’t mind.
Robert R
