4th Aug 1994 Portadown 0 Partick Thistle 1 (Friendly)

matches:1994-95: ← 02game 0304 →

Match Information

			Ronnie McFall		John Lambie			53y, 5m, 2d
					Willie Jamieson; Albert Craig; Chic Charnley; Derek McWilliams; Roddy Grant
					Kevin McKee; Tom Smith; Isaac English; Alex Taylor; Andy M. Gibson
					Ian Cameron [i] (1-0, 56 mins)
					Jeff Aunger (Tom Smith); Graham Harbey (Bobby Law); Roddy Grant (Isaac English)
			Lindsay Hamilton		Craig Nelson			23y, 2m, 7d
			?		David Byrne			33y, 4m, 30d
			?		Graham Harbey			29y, 11m, 6d
			?		Willie Jamieson			31y, 3m, 8d
			?		Grant Tierney			32y, 9m, 24d
			?		Jeff Aunger			26y, 6m, 0d
			?		Albert Craig			32y, 7m, 1d
			Tony Shepherd		Chic Charnley			31y, 1m, 24d
			Trevor Smith		Derek McWilliams			28y, 6m, 19d
			?		Roddy Grant			27y, 10m, 19d
			?		Ian Cameron [i]			27y, 11m, 11d
								29y, 6m, 24d
			?		Tom Smith			20y, 9m, 23d
			?		Bobby Law			28y, 7m, 11d
			?		Isaac English			22y, 8m, 23d

notes

Graham Harbey and Jeff Aunger played as trialists for Thistle.

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Match Report

TTA report

A closely fought affair which saw Port have the better of things early on and Harbey cleared off the line. McWilliams went close but Thistle seldom showed in attack and a looping header by Cameron (56) was the only goal. The game petered out tamely. The 2 trialists played again but were not signed.

Media report

20-Aug-1994, PTFC Match Programme

Thistle completed their three game tour of Northern Ireland with this match with Portadown, who were only just pipped for the league title the season before. Certainly this match was expected to be far and away the toughest of the three and so it proved, and like the Glentoran match two days previous, Thistle were a shade fortunate to win. Once again John Lambie changed the team around in a bid to find the right blend before the start of the new season. Craig Nelson continued in goal with Byrne, Harbey, Tierney and Jamieson in a flat back four. Aunger, Craig, Charnley, and McWilliams took up the midfield positions which left Ian Cameron partnering Roddy Grant up front.

Portadown, containing Scotsmen Lindsay Hamilton, Trevor Smith (son of George Smith) and Thistle summer transfer target Tony Shepherd, were the first to show and after just four minutes Craig Nelson had to be well placed to stop a Trevor Smith volley. Craig had to stop another effort from the same player shortly afterwards, but it was Shepherd who was causing Thistle the bulk of the problems. In the first half, it was easy to see just why Portadown were so reluctant to lose his services. After 31 minutes he took advantage of an error by Derek McWilliams and was unfortunate to see his shot deflected clear for a corner. From the resultant flag kick, Graham Harbey did well to head off the line after a Portadown player was given a free header. In response Thistle were offering very little, the best effort coming from Derek McWilliams who saw his shot from the edge of the box turned round the post by Hamilton at the expense of a fruitless corner. Right on half-time, Chic Charnley nearly created an opening for himself with some typical Charnley magic but was tackled before being able to get a shot on goal.

It was an improved Thistle side after the break with Chic Charnley taking over from Tony Shepherd as the most impressive player on the park. After 50 minutes Jeff Aunger created space for himself only to hit straight at Hamilton, but Thistle did hit the target six minutes later. David Byrne hit a cross into the box that IAN CAMERON got his head to, his looping header beating everyone and ending up in the net. Cameron turned provider three minutes later, Albert Craig bringing out a good save from Hamilton with a header from Cammy's cross. If Albert was unlucky with that one, there was no way he could claim the same about the chance that came his way after 79 minutes. Even this early, it has a fair claim for miss of the season. Put clean through, Albert managed to take the ball round the goalkeeper, but instead of putting the ball into the empty net he simply ran the ball out of play. Derek McWilliams came close to making it 2-0 with a 20-yard shot that went wide, but following Craig's miss the match petered out, Thistle winning 1-0.

That brought the pre-season trip to Ireland to a close and with Thistle winning all three games it was, on the face of it, a success. The five goals that were scored were shared equally among five different players and that was encouraging as, at times last season we possibly relied too much on Albert Craig for goals. At the back, no goals were lost with Craig Nelson, for my money, the best Thistle player on show, proving that all the transfer speculation surrounding him hadn't affected his form. On the downside, neither of the two trialists looked any better than what is already available at Firhill, and, although no goals were lost, the defence looked far from secure. Pre-season is, though, the the time to iron out any problems, and these three games were ideal from that point of view, and thankfully any indifferent form pre-season wasn't carried into last Saturday's match with Kilmarnock.

Stats Watch

● 26-year-old Jeff Aunger plays his last game for Thistle.

● 29-year-old Graham Harbey plays his last game for Thistle.

● For the first time, five non-Scots appear for Thistle.

● For the first time, five non-Scots appear in the Thistle starting eleven.

ongoing sequences:

● 26 consecutive competitive appearances for Willie Jamieson, 30th Nov 1993 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Craig Nelson - 35 games, 2nd Oct 1993 to 30th Apr 1994. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

Stats Watch adheres to our stated definitions of League, League Max, Major Competitive, Competitive or All Games. Where there is no written qualification, you should presume that the Stat in question is compiled from the All Games criteria.

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