One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

Scottish Football League Division 1

Report by Tom Hogg

Saturday 2 August 2008
Partick Thistle v Dunfermline
Firhill Park 3.00pm

PARTICK THISTLE - 1 DUNFERMLINE - 0
McKeown 87

Tuffey Gallagher
Paton Shields
Twaddle Wilson
Storey Phinn (Woods 87)
Robertson Thomson
Maxwell (Booked 62) McCann (Muirhead 68)
Chaplain (McKeown 78) Harper
Rowson Glass
Gray (McKinlay 70) Bayne
Roberts (Donnelly 35) Burke
Harkins Williamson (Booked 68)(Kirk 68)

Unused subs Unused subs
Hinchcliffe Reidford
Kinniburgh Willis

Referee Mr Summers Official attendance 3092

When First Division football is as good as this it makes you wonder why so many delusional souls caused gridlock in Glasgow today while travelling to watch their favourites being outclassed in a pre season friendly. There may not have been many European Championship winners on display but the game at Firhill was as good an advert for the lower league as you could get, with the lack of goals the only downside, although not for the want of trying.

Both Thistle and the Pars served up an attractive attack minded tussle with periods of superiority for both teams, the Jags sneaking it at the very end courtesy of late sub Steven McKeown.

Dunfermline started the 90 minutes in full flow on a pitch that looked good enough for lawn bowls let alone the SFL, but it was the Jags who had the first half chance with Roberts missing out after a Thomson clearance was knocked back into the danger area by Gray. The young Geordie then had a shot on the turn after a good knock down by Rowson but it looked closer from the stand than it probably was at pitch level.

The Pars width began to cause problems at this stage in the game and Thistle were finding it hard to get, let alone keep possession. Both Harper and Williamson were effective on the flanks, tying up the two wing backs and effectively reducing the Thistle midfield to bystanders. It took a full fifteen minutes for Thistle to begin to look as if they could handle the Dunfermline attack, with Graham Bayne proving a handful and eager midfield support from his and Alex Burke’s knockdowns. Glass and Phinn both pushed into good central positions and when Thistle regained possession there were no takers due to the game being well into the Jags half of the field.

Thankfully the panic button wasn’t pushed and Paul Paton in particular held the ball well when there may have been a temptation to hoof it up the park. Paton was involved in the classiest move so far with him, Chaplain and Roberts combining in the 13th minute and with Twaddle powering the resultant corner goalward only for the defender to clear at the post. Roberts ambitiously launched an overhead kick from the clearance which went well over.

Both teams looked lively at this stage, with Roberts control and retention well in evidence; Chaplain being unlucky to miss out on a particularly deft flick on, whilst Rowson and Gray combined well in a neat move that saw an ineffectual cross easily cleared. Dunfermline too were showing good skill on the ball and a great Shields run and lay off saw Burke blast over from 18 yards.

The first clear chance fell to the Pars on 22 minutes when Phinn should have done better than to shoot weakly at Tuffey from 6 yards after a deft Williamson cross outwitted Maxwell. The Pars inclination to fire in crosses from all angles almost paid off seconds later when Bayne should have done better than to head against Paton and see the chance cleared.

Thistle then had a brief spell of superiority when great play by Roberts and Gray as well as interplay with Harkins saw three half chances in quick succession, Gray and Roberts shooting narrowly over and Harkins seeing his shot saved low down by Gallagher.

It wouldn’t be Firhill if we didn’t have something to moan about and the Referee provided that opportunity just past the half hour mark when Harkins was halved by Shields whilst on a goalward burst, but Mr Summers chose not to open his book.

Marko then had to leave the field after a knock, to be replaced by Donnelly. This seemed to take the wind out of Thistle and the Pars came back into it with Williamson knocking the ball against the outside of the post after a Bayne knock down when the goal was gaping and a Glass free kick which cleared the wall but sailed safely into Tuffey’s arms.

The last acts of the first half fell to the Jags with a great Gray cross bulleted goalward by Sid only just clearing the far post and a mazy Harkins run a la Denis McQuade petering out for the want of a left foot shot.

The fans in the JH were well chuffed when at the start of the second half, the PA system went quiet again and they could remove the cotton wool from their ears. This correspondent is assured that the PA is a work in progress…let’s hope there’s a volume switch! Even better entertainment was provided by the Jags comedy kick off which resulted in the ball being tapped in the style of the famous Pires and Henry penalty and then left for Bayne to come in and steal it.

The Referee then added to the fun by failing to book Phinn for a reckless tackle on Maxwell and also denying a Thistle handball when Shields seemed to barge down a Donnelly cross in the box.

Thistle were on top in the early part of this half and an extraordinary phase of play saw a Chaplain head flick tipped over by Gallagher with the corner resulting in two goal line clearances, firstly from Robertson’s header and then from Harkins rebound.

Mr Summers then showed us again how not to make refereeing decisions fairly by first failing to book Rowson after he dived in whilst tracking back and then booking Maxwell for a much more straightforward foul only seconds later. Let’s hope it doesn’t come back on us later in the season.

Both sides made substitutions around the 70 minute mark with the tiring Gray being replaced by McKinlay who took up a forward position alongside Sid. The heat took its toll on the quality of the football in the latter part of the second half but both teams continued to show good close control and deft touches, the Pars being the more inclined to resort to longer passes. One of these, a speculative looping Harper cross almost paid off with Bayne rising well to meet the ball but scraping the outside of the far post with his effort. Harper continued to knock in good crosses despite being pinned deep by Twaddle and also the effect of a change in formation after the introduction of Andy Kirk.

Harper again provided a deep cross which Scott Wilson sclaffed against the outside of the post with Tuffey struggling.

It was the Jags who were to come out on top however with a good goal three minutes from time. A Paton free kick to the back post was missed by all and picked up by Donnelly close to the far touchline. His ball into the danger area was weakly punched by Gallagher and when the ball fell at McKeown’s feet he rifled in a hard daisy cutter that for once by passed the defenders on the goal line.

Despite a cavalry charge by the visitors, Thistle dealt calmly with the onslaught, working the ball out of defence intelligently and the game was finally brought to a close after an overlengthy period of stoppage time.

Make no mistake, this was a great result. Dunfermline looked far better than last season, with deadbeats Crawford and Simmons nowhere to be seen. Bayne looks useful and with service on both flanks, he will score goals this season. As ever Wilson and Thomson were resolute and whilst Glass only looked good in patches, young Phinn linked up well with him.

For the Jags, the official MOM was big Maxy, who looks like more than just a stand in for Archie. He isn’t great coming forward but today he read the game well and for most of the game took the sting out of Bayne. Twaddle, Paton and Harkins all did well despite all three looking tired in the last ten minutes, whilst Donnelly looked composed and in control. One of the most pleasing aspects was the ability of the team to hold the ball and work it into areas, although come mid February at Cappielow there may be less enthusiasm for that type of play both from players and fans.