One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

If you thought the goalless draw at Broadwood earlier in the season was bad enough, look away now as this encounter at Firhill was even worse. Yet again, Clyde and Thistle played out a dissapointing and extremely mediocre contest, resulting in a 1-1 draw, a scoreline which denied The Jags the chance to move to the top of the pile.

Although Saturday’s win over Hamilton was far from a great performance, there were no surprises in the starting line up with manager Dick Campbell opting to go with the exact same team (right down the the subs). Clyde, on the other hand made two changes, McKenna and McGowan preferred to Ferguson and Bryson in attack and midfield respectively. Also amongs their starting eleven was former Thistle trialist Ryan McCann

The majority of the first forty-five minutes was a strikingly dull and scrappy affair. Despite some neat interplay in the middle of the park and owning the bulk of possession, The Jags failed to capitalise upon this, and were restriced to very few efforts upon goal, as were their counterparts in white.

Following an ‘a la Arsenal’ approach of bopping the ball back and forth on the edge of Clyde’s area, the home side eventually managed to pick up most of the scraps and registered some shots on target, be they lame all the same. Adam Strachan, starting on the left wing, fed Mark Roberts and his half-turn volley flew straight into the arms of Hutton in between the sticks.

A counter-attack was the next opening for Dick Campbell’s men, effective linkage between Roberts and Young eventually concluded with the latter creating a good opportunity for himself. However, his touch did not match the initial build up, and Young’s further pass to Strachan was intercepted: the following throw-in, launched into the box, had the home support on their feet. Jimmy Gibson was adjudged to have been significantly barged in the area, but the referee, Eddie Smith, waved play on - one of several incidents in which he was not to be judged a popular figure.

Simon Donnelly’s free kick on the byline and Derek Young’s lacklustre header at the back post were further spurned opportunities. The immaculate Firhill surface, however, was to play a pivotal part in the most action packed moment(s) of the match so far. Michael McGowan lost his footing twice, much to the amusement of the standside crowd, but after re-gaining his balance, whipped in a cross, thankfully flying into the arms of Arthur. A quick break ensued, and Strachan’s fine vision to pick out Young looked to be the possible creation of the opening goal, especially when goalkeeper David Hutton lost his footing also, but he recovered in time to spare any blushes.

The only source of a Jags attack was emerging from simple route one football, Kenny Arthur’s distribution leading onto bigger and better things, that is, until the no-man’s land of the penalty box was reached. As time wore on, the impatience oozing from both sets of fans was becoming more noticeable.

The second half started with a livelier pace, Sean McKenna whizzling the ball wide of Thistle’s left hand side post, and at the other end, Donnelly unfortunately overweighting his through ball to Mark Roberts - bringing a promising move to a dissapointing anti-climax.

Cheers and jubulation gave the residents of the student accomodation behind the North Stand something to peer out of their windows for, as Clyde rustled the net and looked to have opened the scoring, only for the linesman’s flag to be raised, thus dashing any hopes of an exciting encounter, sending the students back to their respective stoves. A cross-ball bounce, intercepted by Imrie, deceived Kenny Arthur and looked to be trickling into the back of the net, only for the flag to be held high before any genuine celebrations could be cemented.

A matter of minutes later the same scenario was to occur; only this time, the goal would stand. A run-of-the-mill midfield battle saw the ball land at the feet of Paddy Keogh, formerly of Clyde himself, but after spinning to send the ball back to his goalkeeper, his pass was horrificly misjudged and found itself at the feet of Gary Arbuckle. Arthur pulled of a fine save to deny his initial attempt, but the ball fell kindly to the man who had only come on as a substitute moments earlier, and, at the second time of asking, he slotted home to give the visitors the lead.

A half-volley that flashed wide from Simon Donnelly moments later signalled Thistle’s intention to get back on level terms, but in truth, despite the introduction of Graham Gibson, and latterly Billy Gibson and McConalogue, Thistle didn’t really look like taking anything from the game as they continued to struggle to create anything.

Several moves became agonising viewing - a patiently waited attack would nine times out of ten revert back to the backline. As all looked to be lost - literally - however, the smallest man on the park stepped up to head home the Thistle equaliser. Yet again, Arthur proved to be the catalyst of this move. His long-distance kick-out found its way to Graham Gibson who fed Roberts, and his resultant chip into the area found its way to Jimmy Gibson at the backpost. He had no trouble in graciously guiding the ball into the onion bag, and finally giving the home support something to shout, scream and dance about.

Suddenly, Thistle were sparked into action and Roberts had a couple of chances to grab all three points after being cleverly sought out via the through ball, but his lack of pace allowed the defenders to catch him so he opted to try and chip the keeper but failed to hit the target, and the second time got caught in posession in the box and ended up with nothing more than a very soft booking as he tried to hook the ball back and caught a defender instead.

In the end the points had to be shared on a damp, disappointing, and, at times, demoralising evening in Maryhill. This result sees Thistle placed joint top of the division, a scenario 99.9% of all fans would have been ecstaticly happy to have accepted back in August, but the manner of tonight’s draw only served to reflect the annoying inconsistency of this side at times. Eddie Smith, referee extraordinare, did not help matters over the course of the ninety minutes, but the fact that so few shots were registered on target does not bode well for the trip to Gretna this coming Saturday.

Man of the match:
DARREN BRADY - Each player blew hot and cold at times tonight, Strachan did relatively well to create and envisage moves on the left wing, but was anonymous in the second half, Keogh and Boyd were both solid and Donnelly picked out by the sponsors, as when he did get on the ball he looked the player most likely to create something. But for me, Brady was tough in the tackle and played the most effective ball when given the slightest opportunity. Good games were not had all round, mediocre is the word that will be ringing around Partick Thistle Football Club this Wednesday evening.

Thistle: Arthur, Campbell, McCulloch (B Gibson 77), Keogh, Boyd, Brady, J Gibson, Donnelly, Young (McConalogue 77), Roberts, Strachan (G Gibson 64).
Unused subs; Tuffey, Ferguson

Clyde: Hutton, McGregor, Malone, Higgins, McKeown, McHale, McCann (Bryson 57), O’Donnell, McKenna (Arbuckle 57), Imrie, McGowan.
Unused subs; Cherrie, Bradley, Harris