Friday 21st December, 2018 at 9:00am
Scottish Premiership
23rd December 2016
Ross County 1 Partick Thistle 3
This game was originally scheduled for the 24th of December, Christmas Eve no less, but the clubs agreed to bring it forward. The fixture scheduling around this time was bizarre in the extreme. Thistle had a miserly three fixtures in November and no fewer than seven in December, which included a re-arranged game at Parkhead which had been postponed away back in August because Celtic were otherwise occupied. Anyway, all this was forgotten as Thistle produced a dazzling second-half performance. In many ways this victory was a turning-point, a watershed, which saw the beginning of a strong run of form, culminating in a top-six finish. Somehow, everything fell into place in the second-half and Thistle emerged worthy winners at the end of the 90 minutes.
Liam Lindsay went up to meet a corner kick from the right and headed powerfully into the net, giving former Thistle ‘keeper Scott Fox no chance. This goal came in 51 minutes and the Jags never looked back thereafter. Sweet, fast-flowing football was the order of the day and after 63 minutes Kris Doolan doubled our lead. Not to be outdone, Chris Erskine added a third with ten minutes to play. There was no way back for the home side, but Boyce netted a consolation goal with eight minutes to play. We saw the game out quite comfortably.
The victory was achieved by the following team :- Tomas Cerny, Callum Booth, Sean Welsh, Liam Lindsay, Abdul Osman, Kris Doolan, Chris Erskine, Stevie Lawless, Christie Elliott, Danny Devine, Ryan Edwards
It had been a scintillating performance and made the long journey home all the more pleasant. Travelling home from Dingwall in the early hours of the morning after a defeat is very challenging. I know this to be the case because I have done it.
Incidentally, Thistle wore an all-white strip, with Tomas Cerny in blue.
By my reckoning, since Ross County became members of the league, we have played the Staggies away 25 times, initially at Victory Park and later at the re-named Global Energy Stadium. Bear all this in mind the next time you mean to star in a football quiz.
For programme enthusiasts, please note that the accompanying issue covered also Ross County’s home fixture against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, due to take place on 31st December.
Robert R.
