Tuesday 08 August 2006
| Written by Sandy Fyfe (Jaf) | ||||||||||
| Tuesday, 08 August 2006 | ||||||||||
Thistle followed up Saturday’s win against Dundee by coming from a goal down to win at Dens Park tonight. A superb Darren Brady strike cancelled out Swankie’s opener for Dundee before second half goals from Billy Gibson and Scott Boyd secured Thistle’s passage to the next round of the cup. Thistle made no changes to the starting line-up, again in a 3-5-2 formation for this second encounter with Dundee. The home side altered formation and personnel, with new signing and ex-Jags trialist Greg Strong going straight into the starting line-up bringing some experience to a young side. Thistle started brightly and after only a minute Roberts fired in a good dipping shot after Graham Gibson got the break of the ball but it also immediately became evident that Dundee would compete much more for long balls due to the inclusion of Swankie who looked dangerous. It only took five minutes for Alex Rae to endear himself to the Thistle support when he made the most of a tackle centrally and about 25 yards out, but Billy Gibson charged down the resultant free kick. After ten minutes, Thistle lost a bad goal. A poorly defended throw in from the Thistle right was flicked on and Gavin Swankie was left with an easy header from a few yards unchallenged by defence or goalkeeper. Some Thistle players pointed half-heartedly towards the linesperson, but really poor defending was the only cause of the goal. Graham Gibson tried to respond immediately but after good work the final effort was weak. Only a couple of minutes later, there was almost a carbon copy of the opener but at the other end. Dundee however got the ball clear to the edge of the box where a shot was fired in by Thistle and seemed to strike an outstretched Dundee arm. As Thistle claimed for a penalty, Dundee broke up the other end and the continual threat of Swankie won the ball in the air again and Kevin MacDonald bundled the ball in at the back post. This time the lines person intervened and began to look much more fetching in her referees assistant uniform! It seemed that Swankie was jumping against Ferguson (our shortest centre back) much of the time. As the game wore on it was noticeable that first Boyd and latterly Sives seemed to be on Swankie more and he looked less impressive as the game progressed. Thistle then withstood a rocky patch with Boyd doing his best to marshall a struggling back three. Sives, in particular, was having a rough spell, and the game deteriorated at this point into a succession of fouls, scrappiness and high balls. Dundee were winning everything in the air and although the Thistle midfield were chasing endlessly they just could not get possession. McCulloch was delivering the dead ball beautifully but Thistle seemed incapable of winning a header in either box. However, this changed five minutes from the interval when another McCulloch corner was met by the head of Boyd who hit the bar. Thistle retained possession and eventually worked it back to Darren Brady who dinked in a gorgeous curling dipping shot, leaving the Dundee keeper no chance. Despite being second best for most of the half, Thistle were lifted and finished the last five minutes the better team. There were no substitutions at half time and Dundee started the second half well and Thistle could just not clear the ball until Donnelly cleverly won a free kick to bring some relief. Donnelly and Graham Gibson were linking well and after 50 minutes, Donnelly conjured a great bit of play that sent Gibson through. Gibson miscontrolled but got a lucky bounce and found himself with the Dundee goal at his mercy but somehow managed to scoop it over and wide. Ten minutes into the Second Half and as the Jags defence looked for offside with Swankie through one-on-one with Kenny Arthur but our own King Kenny pulled off a great save to keep the game at one apiece. How important that save would become as it kickstarted surely one of the best half hours of Jags play for some time. Firstly Graham Gibson again got the break of the ball after clever play by Donnelly but seemed to take a heavy touch and looked for a penalty, and although there may have been some contact there was nothing doing from the ref, probably rightly. Thistle refused to be deterred though and were bombarding the Dundee goal with the away support getting behind them. Brady and Billy Gibson linked well to create a chance and then, after more good play by Donnelly, Brady was put through but pulled his shot just wide. Thistle were not just dominating but playing some wonderful football to watch at this stage. The domination was briefly broken on the hour mark when Jimmy Gibson gave away a free kick in a dangerous position but Kenny Arthur watched the ball sail harmlessly over. Thistle then edged in front following good build up play by McCulloch and Simon Donnelly. The ball was sent in from the Thistle left where Boyd (who by now was winning every header in attacking areas) flicked it onto the back post where Billy Gibson was arriving to drill it home with a good firm composed strike. Donnelly was at the heart of everything at this stage and this performance was even erasing Chic’s cameo last week from the mind. Dundee were still a threat on the break and with twenty minutes to go, Kenny Arthur made a sharp save at the feet of Kevin MacDonald who was bursting into the box. More great play involving Donnelly, Billy Gibson, Roberts and Graham Gibson came to nothing but Thistle looked like they would score another, sooner or later. But first, Dundee player/boss Alex Rae made himself a good shooting chance in 72 minutes but pulled the ball very wide, much to the delight of the travelling support who could not decide whether they wanted to see him sent off or kept on so they could enjoy watching his misery. Even Brown Ferguson was now making charging runs forward and on one of these he won a corner. From the resulting set piece delivered perfectly again by McCulloch, Boyd won yet another header in the Dundee box and it was 3-1 with 15 minutes to go. ‘Can we play you every week?’ rang out from the away end, even DC was waving and smiling to the away stand. Dundee looked a well beaten side even with more than ten minutes left and had been run ragged by Thistle in the Second Half. For such a young side, Dundee needed more leadership from Rae who was providing none, preferring to berate officials and look disgusted when a young player did anything imperfectly. On a night of several penalty shouts, probably the best one came in the 77th minute when Donnelly was blatantly pulled back in the box right in front of the Jags support, again it wasn’t given. As the game came to an end Jimmy Gibson had an effort charged down, Roberts had a dipping volley saved. In the 87th minute, Graham Gibson again looked for a penalty, and as play broke up the other end where a very tricky back pass was played to Arthur who cleared with a bit of a comedy kick and fall over. As most people laughed at Kenny’s gracefulness, Donnelly got on the end of the ball and perhaps will be disappointed that he let a Dundee defender back to make the block. Jimmy Gibson picked up a silly booking at the end of the game, one in which I thought the referee was sensible not to have booked players early in game and generally officiated well. At the end of the match Rae headed straight for the dressing room not waiting to shake the hands of players or his managerial opponent. Man of the match:
Thistle: Arthur 7, Sives 6, McCulloch 8, Brady 8, Boyd 8, Ferguson 7 (Hodge 79), J Gibson 7, Donnelly 9, G Gibson 6, Roberts 7, B Gibson 7. Dundee: Murray, Griffin, Dixon, MacKenzie, C Macdonald, Harris (McNally 62), K McDonald, Rae, Deasley, Swankie, Robertson (Campbell 71). |
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