21st Feb 1998 Partick Thistle 0 Falkirk 0 (SFL First Division - game 25)

matches:1997-98: ← 30game 3132 →

Match Information

41y, 0m, 27d			John McVeigh		Alex Totten
Gregg Watson; Jered Stirling; Jamie McKenzie
Kevin Gaughan; Alan Lawrence; Alan Morgan
					Martyn Corrigan; David Moss
Jered Stirling (Alex Martin, 70 mins)					Albert Craig (David Hagen, 65 mins); Scott Crabbe (Brian Hamilton, 75 mins)
19y, 2m, 14d			Kenny Arthur		Paul Mathers
31y, 0m, 2d			Jimmy Boyle		Andy Seaton
20y, 2m, 8d			Alan Archibald		Martyn Corrigan future Jag
32y, 5m, 25d			Callum Milne		Jamie McGowan
27y, 5m, 0d			Gregg Watson		Neil Oliver
21y, 4m, 8d			Jered Stirling		Scott MacKenzie
17y, 2m, 23d			Jamie McKenzie		Albert Craig former Jag
21y, 5m, 4d			Billy Macdonald		David Moss former Jag
29y, 0m, 13d			Nicky Henderson		Kevin McAllister
21y, 4m, 8d			Iain Nicolson		Scott Crabbe
31y, 4m, 2d			Andy Lyons		Marino Keith
24y, 8m, 23d
18y, 6m, 3d			Alex Martin		Brian Hamilton future Jag
18y, 7m, 24d			Robert Dunn		David Hagen
17y, 4m, 20d			Martin Lauchlan		Chris McCart

Match Report

TTA report

Injury and suspension having robbed Thistle of any strikers (Henderson and Lyons played up front), they sat in for a draw. A Lyons shot from 20 yards (80) was the 1st only shot on goal by either team. Dour, tedious but a point earned. “Runaway favourite for most tedious match of the season” (GH).

Media report

23-Feb-1998, The Herald

POINT OF BOREDOM AS THISTLE HANG ON. THIS was not football. Rather, it was - from a Partick Thistle viewpoint - a perfectly executed drill performed with the sole purpose of avoiding defeat at all costs. Their drill sergeant, John McVeigh, admitted as much. He readily accepted respons-ibility for what is already a runaway favourite for most tedious match of the season but, in light of Thistle's precarious position, rightly refused to make any apologies for his successful stifling tactics.

Having commandeered a valuable point with a skeletal side, devoid of any natural strikers through injury and suspension, the wily Jags manager said: “We had two midfielders up front - Nicky Henderson and Andy Lyons - but we went about our business in a totally professional manner. “I watched Falkirk last week and they carved open Raith Rovers at will. I had to make sure that wasn't going to happen to us. “It wasn't pleasing on the eye and I'm not going to kid on it was, but sometimes you have got to be cynical.” Such was this contest's mediocrity, it took a full 80 minutes before we had the first, and only, real shot on goal, a 20-yard strike from Thistle's Andy Lyons, which skimmed the top of Paul Mathers' crossbar. The inability to break down the unglamorously rigid Thistle formation has resulted in Alex Totten's side slipping eight points behind league leaders Dundee. “I felt the performance was a shadow of last week's,” the Brockville manager lamented afterwards. “We did not do a great deal going forward and it is very disappointing - if you have aspirations of winning the league you have got to try and win these games.”

Scrapbook

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Daily Record, 23rd February, 1998

PTFC Match Programme, 28th March, 1998

Stats Watch

ongoing sequences:

● 28 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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