25th Jun 1995 LASK Linz 2 Partick Thistle 2 (Intertoto Cup Group 6 - game 1)

matches:1995-96: ← 43game 0102 →

	Walter Skocik	John Lambie	54y, 3m, 23d

		Stevie Pittman; Derek McWilliams; Stuart Ayton; Albert Craig; Roddy Grant
		Callum Milne; Grant Tierney; Tom Smith; Wayne Foster; Alex Taylor

Anton Haiden (0-1, 4 mins); Markus Weissenberger (0-2, 6 mins)		Rod McDonald (1-2, 32 mins); Derek McWilliams (2-2, 66 mins)

Walter Hochmaier (Bernhard Kirchschläger, 11 mins); Thomas Weissenberger (Alexander Oppolzer, 85 mins); Markus Weissenberger (Alper Sevim, 88 mins)		Rod McDonald (Wayne Foster, 58 mins); Stuart Ayton (Andy M. Gibson, 62 mins); Derek McWilliams (Kevin McKee, 88 mins)

	Josef Schicklgruber	Nicky Walker	32y, 8m, 27d
	Walter Hochmaier	Alan Dinnie	32y, 1m, 11d
	Dietmar Grüneis	Stevie Pittman	27y, 11m, 7d
	Robert Micheu	Gregg Watson	24y, 9m, 4d
	Kurt Russ	Steve Welsh	27y, 2m, 6d
	Helmut Lorenz	Derek McWilliams	29y, 5m, 9d
	Anton Haiden	Stuart Ayton	19y, 8m, 6d
	Andreas Steininger	Albert Craig	33y, 5m, 22d
	Willi Dibold	Roddy Grant	28y, 9m, 9d
	Markus Weissenberger	Rod McDonald	28y, 3m, 5d
	Thomas Weissenberger	Ian Cameron [i]	28y, 10m, 1d

			28y, 5m, 20d

	Herwig Walker	Mark Cairns	25y, 9m, 0d
	Alper Sevim	Kevin McKee	29y, 0m, 15d
	Bernhard Kirchschläger	Wayne Foster	31y, 9m, 14d
	Dieter Ennsbrunner	Andy M. Gibson	26y, 4m, 23d
	Alexander Oppolzer	Callum Milne	29y, 9m, 29d

notes

Some reports say this was Saturday 24th June but they're wrong. How do we know that? Every good Jags fan knows the story by now - the boots went missing on the flight over and didn't turn up in Austria 'til the Saturday night!

TTA report

43 days later…The kit was lost and hindered Thistle's preparations. They went 2-0 down in 7 minutes but they were easily the better team and after Grant wasted a good chance McDonald headed in a Dinnie cross that had hit the post (31). A 25-yard strike by McWilliams levelled (62) but they couldn't find a winner.

Media report

26-Jun-1995, Glasgow Herald

AT times it June have been more like a close season practice match in front of 1500 people than a European tie, but Partick Thistle did not let themselves or Scotland down in their first foreign adventure for 23 years. Some of us were hanging our heads in fear of embarrassment when they went two behind within six minutes of this Intertoto Cup tie, but the men from Maryhill know a thing or two about recovering from adversity and they were soon about to defy forecasts of doom yet again. By half-time they had cut the deficit to a single goal, when Rod McDonald scored, and midway through the second half they completed a fine comeback by equalising through Derek McWilliams.

Unlike any other Scottish team in European history, Thistle had the considerable burden of not knowing who they were playing until about 10 days before this tie. That left little time to make travel arrangements or find out anything about the opposition. Manager John Lambie was offered help with a video of the Austrian team, but discovered it was a film of the wrong side, city rivals Linz. Typically, he merely shrugged his shoulders and got on with it. The team got on the plane without their baggage and that was after inadvertently delaying the Lufthansa flight from London when they caused great consternation at Gate 6 in Heathrow’s Terminal 2. The story, I think, goes this way. After their British Midland shuttle from Glasgow they were sent on a circular tour of the Chiltern Hills awaiting permission to land. The party, all of whom — directors, management and players — were in track suits, arrived at Terminal 1 half an hour late. They made their way dutifully to the correct terminal, but something went wrong between check-in and departure gate, perhaps best summed up by the distress of one of the Lufthansa ground staff. As the plane, filled with passengers anxious to leave around the scheduled departure time, was kept on hold awaiting the Jags, she did her best via intercom to establish what had happened. Just before director Brown McMaster, who struggled manfully to defeat the inevitable, appeared carrying a bundle of passports, she lost her previous cool authority. “This is chaos,” she shouted in a shrill voice, suggesting that the strain was beginning to tell. Thistle supporters could have been useful counsellors at this point, but they might have been stuck at the immigration desk along with nine of the players whose passports were now apparently inside the international departure lounge where they had hoped to be.

Eventually, half an hour late, flight LH4017, with Thistle comfortably aboard, left for Munich, where the squad was to take the three-and-a-half hours bus journey to Linz. It didn’t work out that way. The entire team kit, strips, et al, had not made it from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2, perhaps reluctant to leave Old Blighty. Again, the reason was one of those unforseeable snags that lie in wait for the best intentioned. It appears that a dispute between the respective baggage handlers caused the delay, the German plane was not waiting any longer and Thistle arrived with the prospect of taking on Linzer ASK without their boots. The kit finally arrived late on Saturday night, but too late for the directors to change from their tracksuits as they were taken out for dinner by the Austrian club officials. The players took it all with an admirable pragmatism but they June still have been dreaming of the summer hols they missed because of this competition when they were caught flat-footed.

Within four minutes Stevie Pittman fouled Thomas Weissenberger and Anton Haiden fairly rammed in the free kick, although Nicky Walker seemed to slip. Two minutes later the hundred or so fans in the meagre crowd were tempted to head for the bars. Mark Weissenberger, who was having his first game for ASK, took a pass from his brother Thomas in a breakaway and beat Walker. There were a few further alarming moments before the Firhill side were able to demonstrate that they were seriously involved in the game. Then they took almost complete control and when they pulled a goal back in 32 minutes, it was well deserved. A cross by Alan Dinnie was headed against the bar by Roddy Grant and there was McDonald in the right place to manoeuvre it over the line. Thistle replaced McDonald, who had taken a foot injury, with Wayne Foster before putting on Andy Gibson for Stuart Ayton. Foster was involved in the equaliser in 66 minutes when he flicked the ball to McWilliams who hit a tremendous shot into the net. Albert Craig who was booked for dissent, twice had the ball in the net but was offside on each occasion and in the last couple of minutes Thistle replaced McWilliams with Kevin McKee. Naturally, Thistle were both delighted and relieved. Said Rod McDonald: “We had a nightmare start, but you must remember we have not played for six weeks. If we can beat Keflavik on Saturday we will have a great chance of topping the group. We can still get AC Milan in the UEFA Cup.”

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