28th Feb 1998 Ayr United 2 Partick Thistle 2 (SFL First Division - game 27)

matches:1997-98: ← 32game 3334 →

Match Information

			former Jag Gordon Dalziel		John McVeigh			41y, 1m, 3d
					Alan Lawrence; Chic Charnley
					Jamie McKenzie; Alex Martin
Mark Duthie (0-1, 48 mins); Derek Anderson (2-2, 90 mins)					Callum Milne (1-1, 55 mins); Iain Nicolson (2-1, 77 mins)
					Alan Archibald; Chic Charnley
Paul Bonar (Dino Maamria, 72 mins)					Billy Macdonald (Jamie McKenzie, 29 mins)
			Kristjan Finnbogason		Kenny Arthur			19y, 2m, 21d
			Paul Bonar		Iain Nicolson			21y, 4m, 15d
			John Traynor		Alan Archibald			20y, 2m, 15d
			Keith Hogg		Callum Milne			32y, 6m, 1d
			future Jag John A. Robertson		Gregg Watson			27y, 5m, 7d
			Derek Anderson		Billy Macdonald			21y, 5m, 11d
			Jim Dick		Jimmy Boyle			31y, 0m, 9d
			Paul Agnew		Nicky Henderson			29y, 0m, 20d
			Mark Duthie		Alan Lawrence			35y, 6m, 9d
			Ian Ferguson		Chic Charnley			34y, 8m, 17d
			Laurent D'Jaffo		Andy Lyons			31y, 4m, 9d
								27y, 7m, 16d
			David Castilla		Jamie McKenzie			17y, 2m, 30d
			Dino Maamria		Alex Martin			18y, 6m, 10d
			future Jag Gregg Hood		Martin Lauchlan			17y, 4m, 27d

Match Report

TTA report

Creditors' meeting agreed business plan. Jags saved! It was a quiet first half. Ayr scored (Thistle caught cold yet again, 48) but Milne touched in a Charnley free-kick (55). A deflected shot by Nicolson (77) looked to have earned the points but he squandered possession and it led to the leveller (90).

Media report

02-Mar-1998, The Herald

A LIFE WON BUT SPIRIT LOST. WINNING another life after a meeting with their creditors during the week, Partick Thistle died a small death at the end of it.

Into injury time, they hesitated and lost a couple of points. They slept, which is a kind of dying, when Ayr swung the ball in from the left and worked it back from the other side of the goal. Thistle seemed oblivious of time and place. They tried some constructive defending. Instead, the ball trickled to Derek Anderson for him to plonk in his first goal for United. This was insult added to injury time for Thistle's wondrously supportive supporters, whose gallant and cavalier style is as worth watching as the play on the field. However, could it be that the supporters attitude has rubbed off on the players? At times the team was like the man falling from a high roof who is heard to say as he goes down past the window only two up from the pavement: “So far, so good.” The bump of reality was immediately supplied by John McVeigh, their manager, who declined any evangelical call to give a long sermon of fire and brimstone. His address to his squad was short and sore. His players had dillied and dallied. Given the choice of the professional thing to do and the unprofessional, they had insisted on accentuating the negative. “All we had to do was hold on. It's the same very week and I find it hard to take. I cannot live with that,” said McVeigh, his conviction making even innocent bystanders feel they were somehow also to blame. His words brought a warm glow of guilt after an afternoon that produced mainly a tinkle of embarrassment. Like the amount that Thistle have agreed to pay some of their creditors, it was a 40% sort of game. It could be as good a training trot as Ayr need ahead of their cup tie against Hearts. Like Anderson, Mark Duthie had his first goal for the club. A clever chip from 20 yards that went over by Ian Ferguson, suggested potential menace, however hidden it remained on Saturday. On his young shoulders Iain Nicolson has to carry the responsibility for the last-minute aberration, although he was due some allowance for the gymnastically athletic goal he scored for Thistle's second. Callum Milne put in the first, an effort that needed not so much propulsion as gentle persuasion so fiendishly accurate was a free kick from near the edge of the park by Chic Charnley. On his return game, Charnley was effortlessly patrolled by John Traynor. His value to Thistle could be as much for what he says to his mates as for what he does. For behaviour that puzzled himself he was booked after handling a pass that was going nowhere except into the arms of the touchline ball-boy.

Scrapbook

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PTFC Match Programme, 11th April, 1998

Stats Watch

● Thistle go 11 competitive games without defeat versus Ayr United, the H2H record.

● Callum Milne scores his last goal for Thistle.

● Iain Nicolson scores his last goal for Thistle.

ongoing sequences:

● 6 competitive games without a win, 24th Jan 1998 to date. (Longest run since: 9 games, 27th Sep 1997 to 29th Nov 1997. Club-record: 26 games, 28th Nov 1908 to 28th Aug 1909.)

● 30 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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