2nd Dec 1995 Partick Thistle 1 Aberdeen 0 (SFL Premier Division - game 16)

matches:1995-96: ← 22game 2324 →

37y, 2m, 8d	Murdo MacLeod	Roy Aitken

Mark Cairns; Tom Smith; Andy M. Gibson
Nicky Walker; Gregg Watson; Rod McDonald

Tom Smith (1-0, 64 mins)
		Stewart McKimmie (@ 0-0, 9 mins)
Ian Cameron [i] (Billy Macdonald, 52 mins)		Eoin Jess (Dean Windass, 65 mins); Joe Miller (Scott Thomson, 69 mins)

26y, 2m, 7d	Mark Cairns	Michael Watt
32y, 6m, 18d	Alan Dinnie	Stewart McKimmie
28y, 4m, 14d	Stevie Pittman	Hugh Robertson
22y, 1m, 20d	Tom Smith	Brian Grant
27y, 7m, 13d	Steve Welsh	John Inglis
30y, 3m, 5d	Callum Milne	Gary Smith
29y, 10m, 16d	Derek McWilliams	Joe Miller
32y, 1m, 21d	Tommy Turner	Duncan Shearer
26y, 10m, 0d	Andy M. Gibson	Paul Bernard
29y, 3m, 8d	Ian Cameron [i]	Billy Dodds former Jag
19y, 9m, 14d	Stephen Docherty	Eoin Jess

27y, 8m, 23d

	n-a	Derek Stillie
19y, 2m, 15d	Billy Macdonald	Dean Windass
29y, 1m, 23d	Harry Curran	Scott Thomson
29y, 5m, 22d	Kevin McKee

TTA report

Mid-table Aberdeen (League Cup winners the previous week) had their captain sent off for an elbow on Milne (9). Thistle had started the better team in any case and played some fine stuff. The teams traded chances and fine goalkeeping but Smith scored (flying header from a Gibson cross, 63). It should have been more.

Media report

Brian Morton, 03-Dec-1995, Scotland on Sunday

Both teams were dangerously fired up-from the start. Tackles were, to put it mildly, immoderate; tactics, to put it no more strongly, were robustly positive. Inside five minutes, Tommy Turner had put a shot just wide of the visitors post and only seconds later, Andy Gibson missed a beckoning opportunity from the other flank. Aberdeen were eqaully bent on an early flourish. No excuse though for the moment that changed the shape of the game at a stroke. With just 8 minutes on the clock, Callum Milne attempted to grapple the foraging Stewart McKimmie. It was clumsy rather than vicious and scarcely merited the Scotland internationalist's angry retaliation. McKimmie threw an elbow and caught Milne full in the face, more or less under the referee’s nose. Mr. Clark, who otherwise seemed keen to let things flow, had no alternative but to show a red card, cautioning Milne into the bargain for his part in the nonsense.

Aberdeen, to their credit, kept at it, albeit palpably aware of the gaps they were leaving at the back. These were to prove crucial as the afternoon progressed and took its inevitable turn. On the quarter heur Aberdeen had the ball in the net, Duncan Shearer applying some intelligent guesswork but mis-timing the run and cross that allowed Billy Dodds to side foot home. Offside seemed the right decision in the circumstances. Aberdeen’s normally-mobile midfield was notably off the pace. Eoin Jess had passed a morning fitness test but it couldn’t have been by much of a margin. Joe Miller also looked unsettled and short-winded. Both must have been aware of Roy Aitken’s Christmas shopping, waiting on the bench. Both were destined to be replaced - Jess made way for new boy Dean Windass at half-time.

It was Tommy Smith who made himself the Thistle hero, just over-steering a fierce shot in 50 minutes, but then getting his reward for tireless activity when he popped up underneath substitute Billy McDonald’s cross and headed easily past Aberdeen goalkeeper Michael Watt. By this stage, Thistle were just about worth their lead and looked set to improve on it Stephen Docherty and Andy Gibson caused persistent dismay in the depleted Aberdeen defence. Smith worked heroically and there were signs that he made the essential difference, weight for weight. Aberdeen morale plummeted after the goal and perhaps only then did cup final backlash set in.

(see 'Scrapbook' tab for full report)

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