One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

Partick Thistle v Clyde
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Firhill Stadium
Saturday 7th March 2009 3.00pm
Attendance: 3,579
Reporter Kieron Dempsey

I met Tom Hogg after the match and hhe said it needed a three line report: they were  crap, we were crap, we scored an own goal - end of report and that does about sum it up.
For me the biggest disappointment was that our crowd, the home crowd, had risen by about 300 and  this could have been an opportunity to increase our regular following for the run up to the end of the season. We only have to hope that they might be persuaded to return as the other results ended in draws and although we missed a chance to catch up we have not lost ground in the promotion battle completely.
Thistle were without Buchanan and Robertson who kindly went along to see our elderly visitors from the Donald Dewar Centre before the start of the match for photos and a chat. Their absence from the starting line up gave both Maxwell and Donnelly a start. The game started brightly enough with Thistle winning a corner early on from which there was no real threat on the Clyde goalkeeper. Thistle did  almost score in the 15th minute when Harkins fired in a good shot only to see the Clyde keeper pulling off an excellent save.

The Jags continued to dictate the game at this point and Harkins had a link up with Doolan which ended in an easy save for the Bully Wee keeper. Doolan was next to have a go finding himself free and, running into the Clyde box, he deftly managed to lob the ball over the onrunning keeper and toward the Clyde goal, but unfortunately the ball went just over and onto the top of the net. Doolan came close again in 29 minutes when his glancing header from a Paton free kick went wide of the post.

Clyde finally showed some life just before half time with a forward movement that reqwuired a desparate intervention from Storey to ease the situation. Clyde again pushed forward in the final few seconds of the half, but there was no real fire in their play. The half ended with Thislte on top, but not looking as dominating as one would have expected given the relative placings of the sides in the league table. Indeed, the match had lacked much in terms of entertainment although the weather conditions did not assist in making this a spectacle.

Thistle came out with some determination in the second half and a Doolan overhead kick landed in front of the onrushing Donnelly who hit the ball wide of the post and into the side of the net.

Clyde had definitely picked up though and it took a good block from Twaddle to block Stevenson’s powerful drive. Clyde continued to press and Thistle were finding it difficult at times to get back into control of the game. However, just as frustration was starting to build, the Jags pushed forward and Harkins fired a rocket at the Clyde goal , but the keeper was more than a match for it, pulling off a decent save. Moments later Doolan had a chance to put Thistle in the lead but his final shot was poor and went straight to the Clyde keeper.

This did not look like a day that either side was going to score as overall the standard of football was duff, but calamity struck in the 54th minute when Tuffey and Maxwell combined to gift the visitors a goal. For some bizarre reason, the normally reliable Tuffey, taking a pass back from Maxwell, let the ball roll past his foot and into the back of the net. It was a classic howler. I kept staring at the net in front of me blinking in disbelief at the possible end of our promotion hopes.

Manager McCall instantly set about making changes to the team to try to change the approach with Chaplain replacing McKeown and minutes later McKinlay replacing Doolan. Whatever was in the mind of the manager at this point did not seem to work as the performance stayed lacklustere to say the least as Clyde began to press forward more and more frequently and at times Gemmill looked threatening.

Thistle were denied a decent penalty claim in the 67th minute when Donnelly seemed to be brought down in the box. Referee Tumilty ran forward as if to give a penalty, but seemed to change his mind after looking over at his assistant and instead gave a corner.

The manager made his next change to the side moments later bringing on the athletic Lucas Akins for Donnelly. Soon after Atkins made his presence felt with some good football which set up Paton for a good shot that the excellent Clyde keeper Hutton pushed away to stop a Thistle equaliser. However, Clyde were buoyed by their fortunate goal and continued to press forward and at times looked the more likely side, and in the 85th minute the dangerous Gemmill got past the Thistle defense to shoot but the ball went wide.

Thistle desperately tried to push forward for the equliser but they could not retain posession of the ball for any length of time, both sides lodsing it to the other. Clyde finshed the game to the cheers of their fans having earned themselves an unexpected three points that could well save them from relegation.

Thistle must have had mixed feelings about the way the other results went, but as an optimist I think that we still have a chance to get ourselves into the top division. A lot will depend on the tuesday night game against Ross County. This wont be easy at all indeed it never is up there, and this season they seem to have the measure of us, but if we could win this one then we would still have a good chance of staying in the promotion battle.

Man of the match is a difficult one with such a lack-lustre dispaly, but I think on balance it would have to be Paul Paton for his effort and some decent crosses throughout the ninety minutes.

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Thistle: Tuffey, Paton, Twaddle, Storey, Maxwell, Archibald, McKeown (Chaplain 56), Rowson, Doolan (McKinlay 64), Donnelly (Akins 74), Harkins.
Players not used: Kinniburgh, Hinchcliffe.

Clyde: Hutton, Stevenson, Waddell, Higgins, Brown, Lithgow, Kettlewell (Wilson 65), Ruari MacLennan, Gemmill, Tade, McLaren (McKay 85).
Players not used: Trouten, O’Reilly, Cherrie.

Booked: Lithgow, Ruari MacLennan, Tade.

Scorers: Maxwell 54 og.

Attendance: 3,579