9th Jan 1996 Partick Thistle 0 Falkirk 3 (SFL Premier Division - game 20)

matches:1995-96: ← 26game 2728 →

37y, 3m, 16d	Murdo MacLeod	John Lambie former PT manager

Charlie Adams; Harry Curran; Andy M. Gibson
Tom Smith; Derek McWilliams; Stephen Docherty

		Albert Craig (0-1, 31 mins); Jamie McGowan (0-2, 41 mins); David Weir (0-3, 90 mins)

Andy M. Gibson (Steve McMahon, 59 mins); Harry Curran (Billy Macdonald, 70 mins)		Maurice Johnston (Steve Kirk); David Elliot (Kevin James); David Hagen (Paul McGrillen)

33y, 3m, 11d	Nicky Walker	Tony Parks
32y, 7m, 26d	Alan Dinnie	David Weir
30y, 4m, 13d	Callum Milne	Jamie McGowan
19y, 9m, 19d	Charlie Adams	John Clark
27y, 8m, 21d	Steve Welsh	Andy Gray
25y, 3m, 19d	Gregg Watson	Scott MacKenzie
29y, 3m, 0d	Harry Curran	David Hagen
32y, 2m, 29d	Tommy Turner	Derek Ferguson future Jag
26y, 11m, 1d	Nicky Henderson	Albert Craig former Jag
29y, 4m, 16d	Ian Cameron [i]	Maurice Johnston former Jag
26y, 11m, 7d	Andy M. Gibson	David Elliot former Jag

28y, 6m, 12d

19y, 3m, 23d	Billy Macdonald	Steve Kirk
25y, 8m, 18d	Steve McMahon	Kevin James
22y, 2m, 28d	Tom Smith	Paul McGrillen future Jag

notes

Steve McMahon was listed as a trialist for Thistle.

TTA report

8th v 10th relegation battle. A low shot by ex-JAG Craig (31) and a header (41) gave Falkirk a deserved lead but Thistle fought back and were unlucky when Watson hit the bar. Their efforts were in vain however and a deflected shot (89) sealed it. Unusually for this level, Thistle had a half-hour trialist sub (McMahon).

Media report

10-Jan-1996, Glasgow Herald

IT MAY have been billed as a relegation contest, but there was nothing negative about the way the two teams, within their limitations, went about trying to collect the three points that could prove invaluable when the final count is taken at the end of the season. Thistle, apart from a small period in the middle, were outplayed in the first half by a bright Falkirk side, and could have no complaints about the two-goal deficit at the break. However, it was a contrasting tale afterwards when the Firhill lads took almost complete charge and, given a little bit of good fortune, could easily have wiped out the lead by the end. They had three or four near things, particularly a great effort by Gregg Watson which smashed off the bar, but the goals scored by Albert Craig (who used to score plenty on the same ground for the other team) and Jamie McGowan proved enough. In the last minute David Weir finished them off with No.3.

The victory puts Falkirk two points ahead of Thistle and Motherwell at the lower end of the premier division and within sight of Kilmarnock and others above them. John Clark was the outstanding player for Falkirk, especially in the second half, when he stood firm against almost constant Thistle pressure. Ian Cameron, not for the first time this season, was the top man for the Jags, who will play worse and win before the battle is over. Craig, who found it hard to keep the smile off his face afterwards, said: “It was really pleasing to come back here and score a goal against my old club, but it was more important that we won. I thought we relaxed a bit too much in the second half, but it was a good victory and we must go on to Tynecastle and not spoil it by losing there.” His manager, John Lambie, said: “That was a real pressure result for us because these are the games we’ve got to win. It really was a six-pointer. We changed the whole system to three at the back and it worked quite well.”

For Murdo MacLeod, the Thistle manager, it was a second successive home defeat and he said: “If Watson’s shot had gone in off the bar we might have got back in the game but the fans were right to be angry because we have to be able to score goals at home.” It is a rare event when a premier team includes a trialist in the squad and the presence on Thistle’s bench of Steve McMahon, the striker who is back from China hoping to win a contract at Firhill, was perhaps an indication of the length to which the Glasgow team’s resources have been stretched by injury. At least we were spared confusion with him and his team, unlike the sight of Craig, in a Falkirk shirt, and the former Falkirk player, Nicky Henderson, in a Jags jersey.

Weir, acting as an extra midfield man in Falkirk’s three-at-the-back formation, was particularly effective and provided the first decent attempt at goal, although his shot had to be taken too hastily to trouble Nicky Walker. Thistle did reverse the flow in one good movement but Henderson’s final pass to Harry Curran was too firm. The pattern then reverted to Thistle on the defence, and one clever Mo Johnston header to David Hagen resulted in a hard, low cross which Gregg Watson had to hit behind for a corner. Partick, however, had begun to settle and were making more of an impression on the Falkirk defence, although only a well-struck shot by Ian Cameron forced Tony Parks into a fine save. At that point Falkirk struck to go in front. A long free kick from Clark was headed into goal by Weir, headed on by Johnston, and there was Craig to hit it low past the keeper. The going was getting tough for Thistle, who were struggling to cope with the eager Falkirk attacks, and it was no real surprise when they went two behind four minutes before the break. A corner by David Elliot from the left found Jamie McGowan in full flight and he headed smoothly past Walker. There might have been a penalty soon after for Falkirk when Dinnie seemed to handle an attempted Hagen lob. The home team were having a good go at retrieving the situation and Clark had to divert a Charlie Adams shot for a corner as the pressure increased, but thistle’s luck stayed out. In 59 minutes Thistle brought on trialist McMahon. Partick tried another substitution 20 minutes from time, Billy McDonald for Curran, but it was Cameron who nearly made the breakthrough for them with a fierce drive that Parks dealt with impressively. Thistle’s rough night was completed in the last minute when a Weir shot from outside the box was deflected out of Walker’s reach for the third goal. Tough at the top? Try the bottom.

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