One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

Partick Thistle brought down the season at Firhill today with a hugely disappointing performance against a Morton team who good only be described as being rampant. A third goal early in the second half put away a Jags team who might have mailed in a better display.

Manager Ian McCall had promised that he would select a team worthy of this occasion when the Greenock men required a result to condemn Clyde to the First Division Play-off games. True to his word, the likes of Rowson, Twaddle and Roberts were selected along with the departing Murray who played on the left of midfield. Morton went with the players who has served then so well last Saturday in the win against Dunfermline in Greenock.

The home side kicked off but it was the visitors who set the tone by being the first to attack and this early sally into the Jags box resulted in the ball being blocked away for a corner which was subsequently cleared with no great threat. Morton continued to press with some energy and when Finlayson penetrated down the left flank his cut-back had to be blocked away by Thistle’s Chaplain.

It was not until the eighth minute the home team mounted their first significant attack. Following neat work between Roberts and Murray the ball came to Chaplain but his shot was weak and posed no real threat. The Jags number seven’s next involved was more incisive and almost resulted in a goal.

Having been played into the inside left channel (I realise that I am showing my age here) by Harkins, Chaplain went beyond Robinson in the Morton goal and on reaching the goal line he turned the ball goalwards only to see it kicked off the line by the back-tracking Walker. This was as good as it got for the Red and Yellow since the visitors proceeded to go right up the park and score.

Following on from a pair of attacking Morton throw-ins, Kinniburgh failed to clear effectively and the ball fell to Wake lurking on the edge of the six yard box. From here he dispatched it clinically past Tuffey in the Thistle goal. This gave Morton extra heart and they pressed the home team with further attacks. The home team responded with Roberts playing the ball wide for Storey to attack down the right and his cross to Gray looked to be a genuine chance but the Jags number nine missed the target from all of eight yards.

Morton continued to have the better of the game and in twenty six minutes Kinniburgh seemed to lose track of both ball and opponent which left the dangerously bearded Wake with a clear sight of goal. His shot brought a smart save low to the left from Tuffey. Next Russell’s initial shot was blocked by Twaddle and a follow up was well taken by the the Jags goal keeper. In between times the home side had briefly threatened when god work by Gray had set up Roberts and his shot from twenty yards went just wide.

Still it was the team in blue and white hoops who were looking the more dangerous outfit. In the thirty eighth minute Paartalu shot straight at Tuffey from fifteen yards, and the same players cross through the Jags six yards box was narrowly missed by Russell, who, throwing himself headlong at the ball, just failed to connect with the pass.

The visitors had their tails up and an attack at the end of the half which came down the left flank saw the ball fall to Finlayson thirty yards out in the inside left channel (showing my age again). His shot was lashed low past Tuffey into the bottom corner of the net and the men from Greenock trooped off two to the good at the half way break.

Certainly Morton were worth their two goal lead but it has to be noted that this correspondent’s usually reliable time piece showed that the uninterrupted first half had run for forty five minutes and thirty seconds before the ball hit the Jags net for the second time.

Thistle rang the changes during the break. Kinniburgh and Murray were replaced by McStay and Little. Storey moved to left back, Twaddle came into the middle to join Robertson and Little started on the right side of midfield with Harkins beginning the half at right back. Did you follow all that? Not that it made much difference. Apart from an early chance following on from a Roberts-won free kick where Harkins shot was woeful and wide from thirty yards the rest of the match was a non-event as far as the home team were concerned.

In the fifty third minute Morton attacked down their right flank. The cross into the box into the Thistle box was missed by all the re-designed defensive unit and it was the hirsute Wake who turned and slotted the ball behind Tuffey from the edge of the six yard box.

This effectively ended the game as a contest. Both teams played out the remaining time in an honourable fashion with the result almost already certain. In the sixty fourth minute Keegan, who had come on for Roberts without a sign of a white flag, was brought down in an advanced position on the left flank. Storey made the cross into the box and the Jags number fourteen appeared to be pulled down from behind but there was no response from the Man in Pale Blue.

Morton responded with a good run by Miller which was blocked away for a corner. This eventually fell to Morton’s McAlister but his fierce shot from distance was wide of the mark. Wake escaped suspiciously through the inside right channel and with the Jags defence waving for offside and his shot from eight yrads hit the side of Tuffey’s net. Just after that Gray managed to wriggle free inside the visitors box but his cut back to Keegan saw the Jags forward’s shot blocked away.

With ten minutes remaining Tuffey has to get down smartly to block a shot from twenty yards and the rebound came to nothing since advancing forwards were adjudged to be offside. In the last ten minutes Rowson was booked for a foolish clash with Robinson in the Morton goal, and Harkins also found his way into the book following a silly challenge with a Morton player breaking down the left wing.

At the final whistle, when the visitors were assured that their season was over and that Clyde would be playing the SFL post-season extra time, the men in blue ran to acknowledge the large band of travelling supporters. The men in the impressive new yellow with red kit trooped off with a few half-hearted claps for the less than impressed residents of the Jackie Husband Stand.

It was over.

Tuffey must be the only keeper at Firhill ever to have conceded three goals and be named Man of the Match. The rest ran around some with more energy and purpose than others but essentially the Jags mailed this one in from a sandy place well to the south of the Maryhill Road. Intended to be a day when new gear was unveiled and new courses set, this could only be described in terms of a failure to launch. Before the men in red and yellow are allowed to go leaving on a jet plane they need a rocket up the proverbial.

For the reporting team of Sandy, Neil, Wee Honk his Canine side-kick, who carried the load, variously Scorge, Davie, Jesper, Kenny, OTS and Hogg who pitched in, and from the Weboss herself, the remarkable Lianne, we wish you a safe closed season. Wherever you are reading these works we hope that you have enjoyed the best and most extensive reports of Thistle games in season 07-08.

Let’s all continue to Fly the flag for the Firhill Jags.