17th Jan 1998 St Mirren 0 Partick Thistle 1 (SFL First Division - game 22)

matches:1997-98: ← 26game 2728 →

Match Information

			Tony Fitzpatrick		John McVeigh			40y, 11m, 23d
					Jamie McKenzie; Billy Macdonald
					Alan Archibald; Iain Nicolson
					Alan Lawrence (1-0, 59 mins)
Norrie McWhirter; Hugh Murray					Jered Stirling
					Gregg Watson (@ 0-0, 27 mins)
Hugh Murray (Brian Hetherston, 64 mins); Tommy Brown (Steven McGarry, 64 mins)					Jered Stirling (Alan Archibald, 27 mins); Alan Morgan (Robert Dunn, HT); Robert Dunn (Iain Nicolson, 87 mins)
			Alan Combe		Kenny Arthur			19y, 1m, 10d
			Norrie McWhirter		Gregg Watson			27y, 3m, 27d
			Barry McLaughlin		Callum Milne			32y, 4m, 21d
			Gavin Galloway		Jamie McKenzie			17y, 1m, 19d
			future Jag Hugh Murray		Kevin Gaughan			19y, 10m, 11d
			former Jag Tommy Turner		Jered Stirling			21y, 3m, 4d
			future Jag Stuart Taylor		Jimmy Boyle			30y, 10m, 29d
			future Jag Andy Roddie		Billy Macdonald			21y, 4m, 0d
			Tommy Brown		Alan Lawrence			35y, 4m, 29d
			Mark Yardley		Alan Morgan			23y, 1m, 7d
			Dave Winnie		Nicky Henderson			28y, 11m, 9d
								25y, 1m, 27d
			Brian Smith		Alan Archibald			20y, 1m, 4d
			Brian Hetherston		Iain Nicolson			21y, 3m, 4d
			Steven McGarry		Robert Dunn			18y, 6m, 20d

Match Report

TTA report

2 fouls and 2 yellow cards and Watson was sent off (30). McKenzie headed the free-kick off the line but generally St Mirren couldn't make any impression on the 10 men. Henderson hit the bar then Lawrence, put through by Dunn, scored (59). Missed chances made the last 5 minutes rather frantic.

Media report

19-Jan-1998, The Herald

FIRST, a word for Thistle's sponsors. Supporters in adversity of Partick are nearly as amazing a bunch as they think they are. Their Save The Jags campaign is just about comprehensible to ordinary mortals. What the rest of the sporting world more wants to know is where the savers get their Jags. Whatever they are on it's powerful stuff.

In Saturday's monsoon circumstances when otherwise educated people (which some of them claim to be) would have stayed by the fire with a book, they were present in numbers at Love Street. They were about half the crowd. As participants in the occasion they outshouted the home lot as thoroughly as their players outfoxed and outfought the Saints. Much versatility and skill were on show from the travelling punters. They can do two contradictory things at the same time. Putting their money where their mouths are, they still know how to give a good shout with them. They can applaud vigorously with hands which they also use to dig deep in their pockets. To begin with they looked like getting little return from either their investment or their encouragement. St Mirren seemed to have a coherent plan which was working. They were making long, surging runs and shooting from distance. Tom Brown came close with the coolest of lobs. Mark Yardley hit a post. Thistle made a prudent decision to give Andy Roddie a rough ride. There was not otherwise much apparent wisdom attached to Partick's work. Kenneth Arthur's punching from goal looked at least precarious. More perilous daftness followed. After a couple of hearty fouls in the first half hour Gregg Watson was sent off. Hindsight suggests it was about then that the game turned. Enforce changes became the making of victory. Jimmy Boyle had to be moved back. Jered Stirling was substituted by Alan Archibald, who was less than fit and had been intended to be held in reserve until a later stage. Thistle's incisive tactical shrewdness tends to get missed among the mush that is talked about them. It showed towards the end in what dab hands they are at wasting time. And they are not anybody's cuddly toys. Alan Lawrence was their trickiest to nurse. He kept squirming out of the grasp of St Mirren's defenders. Usually Lawrence's darting forays ended in a painful heap for him. But he made every opponent he came near nervy if not alarmed. When he was again stopped illegally near the interval, the referee allowed play to continue and, from the confusion that followed, Nicky Henderson scraped the top of the crossbar.

Neatly on the hour came the goal. From about the halfway line Robert Dunn sprung Lawrence through the middle to career between two defenders as if they were gateposts to score with a low shot that gave goalkeeper Alan Combe no chance. Thistle did their sums in an arithmetic of their own. Being minus one they could make more like plus two. Losing a man had the same invigorating effect as shedding weight is said to have. “Our control of the game was the pleasing thing. We tailored it just right for what we had to do,” said thistle manager John McVeigh. St Mirren's performance was rated the worst of the season by Tony Fitzpatrick, their manager. Sometimes their patience seemed exemplary. But it can be an overrated virtue. Often patience cloaks only despair. It is a sign of having no notion of what to do next. Paisley's own hero was the Love Street groundsman, Tom Docherty, for making the park so improbably playable. It made him a bit of a local villain as well, of course. When failure is so collective, somebody has to take the blame.

Scrapbook

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Paisley Daily Express, 19th January, 1998

PTFC Match Programme, 25th February, 1998

Stats Watch

● Alan Lawrence scores his last goal for Thistle.

ongoing sequences:

● 24 consecutive competitive appearances for Jimmy Boyle, 2nd Aug 1997 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: David Farrell - 40 games, 12th Oct 1996 to 18th Oct 1997. 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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