Saturday 15 April 2006
Stirling 1 - 2 Thistle
| Written by Richard Hanning | |
| Saturday, 15 April 2006 | |
| After a dismal run of form, Thistle’s play off hopes are back on track after this win over Stirling. 1-0 down at half time the Jags turned on the style in the second half and put in a determined and disciplined team performance, and in the end were comfortable winners courtesy of goals from Smyth & Craig.Suspension and injury left Dick Campbell with limited options so a bit of reshuffling at the back meant that Murray lined up as a central defender along side Craig, Snowdon took up the right back position with Mark Smyth moved forward into midfield along side Brady, Kilgannon and Roberts in a 4-4-2 line up with Strachan and McConalogue up front. Stirling no doubt keen to make up from a 6-0 drubbing off Gretna in midweek featured the ex-Thistle duo of McNally & Dunn, while Paul Hay, John Fraser and Steven Bell returned to the starting line-up.
It is typical of Thistle, though, to make things hard for themselves and their sizeable support and inside 5 minutes it was looking like it might be a bad day at the office. Bell ghosted past McCulloch in the Thistle box. Although Kenny was advancing and there looked to be plenty of defensive cover, Boab stuck out a leg and took the forwards ankle from behind for a stonewall penalty. Kenny, usually a fair bet in these situations, was this time sent the wrong way low down by Aitken and it was 1-0 Stirling. Stirling continued to dominate the early play with a fast paced passing game. Thistle repsonded by relying on the quick ball forward back to front aiming for McConalogue or Strachan with backs to goal. Having said that Stirling made only one other real chance to increase their lead when the Thistle defence struggled to clear a high ball in from Wilson on 11 minutes. Thistle’s counter attacking game generated a reasonable number of efforts in the first half. Kilgannon might have done better to run onto a McConalogue through ball on 12 minutes instaed of anticpating an offside flag that never came, Brady was next to threaten with a 25 yarder that flew over before McConalogue’s looping shot or cross (who knows, did he?) from wide on the right went narrowly over. Strachan was then extremely unlucky on 18minutes; a Kilgannon cross was knocked down by Roberts to Strachan who hit the post from close in. On 29 minutes McConalgue’s low corner to the near post was flicked on by Roberts across the goal and was unlucky not to find a Thistle jersey. The clearance fell straight to Craig who shot over. Just before half time Thistle spurned a great opportunity to level the score when McConalogue was put through one-on-one with the keeper after a fabulous passing move involving Strachan. But instead of shooting from 6 yards he decided to push the ball wider and finished up hitting a dolly shot from no more than 2 yards. Easy meat for the goalie. Whilst Thistle’s long ball game may not have been the prettiest stuff you’ll see it was certainly giving Albion plenty to think about with Strachan in particular teasing McNally & co. The Jags had a succession of first half free kicks with McNally seeing yellow and being fortunate not to be booked again for a number of other poor challenges. Bell sporting a Terry Butcher style bandage should have been off for a clear punch on Darren Brady and Hay was booked for a sore one on McConalogue. But despite the Jags’ creating more chances, at half time it was 1-0 to Stirling. While Stirling probably felt they just about deserved to hold onto their first half lead, the second half belonged almost entirely to Thistle who rediscoverd the sort of form last seen in the cup games, and they equalised barely a minute after the restart. An overhead flick by Brady was only half-cleared, eventually finding Smyth at the edge of the area, and his grass cutter beat the keeper at the post. Judging from his celebration the captain could have been said to be quite pleased with his goal. From then on it was almost all Thistle and they dominated Stirling with attack after attack. Smyth and Brady seemed to be playing further up the park than in the first half, supported by good runs from McCulloch and Snowdon. The defence, pretty solid in the first half, looked almost water tight with Craig looking secure in the air and on the deck. Barely two minutes after Smyth scored, Adam Strachan had a lovely header skim wide following a Brady, McConolgue and Roberts move down the wing. The same players combined again on 51 minutes but no-one was able to finish. Over the next 30 minutes Thistle created a barrowload of chances. McNally cleared off the line from a McConalogue back header on 59 minutes, a minute later Brady headed over from a Strachan free kick. Strachan then had the miss the second half ballooning over after Snowdon, Roberts and Strachan himself had opened up the Stirling defence. Strachan was again involved in the next two Thistle efforts. Firstly he robbed Devine near the Albion box only to see his pass to Kilgannon knocked away by an alert Hogarth, then he had a fresh air shot from a terrific ball in from McConalogue. Brady popped up again only to see his shot deflected wide then Craig had a fine header stopped on the line but it would have been ruled out anyway as a foul was given. On 72 minutes McConologue shot narrowly over after McCulloch had made an excellent tackle and sent a geat long ball to him. By this stage Thistle had pressed forward with little response from Stirling until the 72nd minute when Kenny was called to save from a close in Dunn header. Thistle then almost replicated their equaliser with Smyth hitting the post with another low shot. Finally, with ten minutes of the game remaining Thistle scored the winner. A move on the right involving McConalogue and Brady resulted in a a cross being knocked out for a corner It was Craig rose above the defence to power home a header and make it 2-1 to Thistle. It was no more than the Jags deserved. However, the party was nearly spoiled when Boyack hit the post with a shot after he had chested down a nicely filghted free kick on 81 minutes. It was Thistle though who continued to control play in the last 10 minutes and had further efforts on goal from a Roberts diving header and a deflected Nicholas shot. This result was crucial for Thistle’s play off hopes. Not only that but it was also a very determined display - it’s been a long time coming, but the players at long last showed that they are capable of turning it on, and not just in cup games against ‘bigger’ opposition. The trick now is for them to carry that kind of form through the play-offs. Man of the match:
STATS Attendance: 1,739
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