27th Jul 2002 Partick Thistle 1 Birmingham City 2 (Friendly)

matches:2002-03: ← 04game 0506 →

Match Information

61y, 4m, 25d			John Lambie		Steve Bruce
Kenny Arthur; James McKinstry
Kevin Budinauckas; Fabien Bossy
Paul Walker (1-2, 76 mins)					Stern John (0-1, pen 27 mins); Geoff Horsfield (0-2, 48 mins)
Kenny Milne (Alan Archibald, 57 mins); Jamie Buchan (Danny Lennon, 57 mins); Jamie Mitchell (Paul Walker, 61 mins); Martin Hardie (Mark Thomson, 84 mins); Scott McLean (Gerry Britton, 2nd half)					Paul Devlin (Nicky Eaden, 61 mins); Robbie Savage (Graham Hyde, 61 mins); Bryan Hughes (Tom Williams, 70 mins); Stern John (Stan Lazaridis, 84 mins)
23y, 7m, 20d			Kenny Arthur		Nico Vaesen
23y, 0m, 24d			James McKinstry		Kenny Cunningham
22y, 11m, 1d			Kenny Milne		Martin Grainger
25y, 8m, 28d			Stephen Craigan		Olivier Tebily
30y, 2m, 14d			Scott Paterson		Darren Purse
33y, 10m, 26d			Derek Whyte		Damien Johnson
25y, 8m, 21d			Jamie Mitchell		Paul Devlin
25y, 3m, 24d			Jamie Buchan		Robbie Savage
26y, 1m, 10d			Scott McLean		Stern John
26y, 3m, 5d			Martin Hardie		Geoff Horsfield
28y, 11m, 23d			Alex Burns		Bryan Hughes
26y, 6m, 12d
27y, 10m, 11d			Kevin Budinauckas		Ian Bennett
24y, 7m, 14d			Alan Archibald		Jeff Kenna
24y, 11m, 7d			Paul Walker		Michael Johnson
33y, 3m, 21d			Danny Lennon		Nicky Eaden
19y, 4m, 8d			Mark Thomson		Stan Lazaridis
23y, 9m, 3d			Barry Elliot		Tom Williams
20y, 4m, 25d			Andy S. Gibson		Graham Hyde
31y, 9m, 7d			Gerry Britton

Match Report

TTA report

“A tepid affair” (SOS). Thistle looked to have taken the lead (18) but McLean's header was disallowed for an earlier infringement. Birmingham took the lead (27) when Milne tripped an opponent and they scored from the spot off a post. It was 2-0 (48) before sub Walker scored with a fine drive from 15 yards (75).

Media report

29-Jul-2002, Birmingham Post

JOHN AND HORSEFIELD STEP UP TO GIVE MORRISON FOOD FOR THOUGHT. Steve Bruce made great play earlier in the week - when Birmingham City were losing tour games in Scotland 2-1, not winning them 2-1 - that little heed should be taken of results in pre-season friendlies. So, if the Blues boss is really honest with himself, this one won't count for much either. Especially as both his side's goals owed a great deal to the officials. It's hard to say what upset the locals most; the linesman's failure to raise the flag when Geoff Horsfieldlooked three yards offsideen route to being fouled for Blues' penalty-spot opener, or the referee's astonishing decision to award a killer second goal when Horsfield's header was cleared off the line by Stephen Craigan. It left Bruce with the ironic sight of seeing Stern John- who tucked away the penalty - and Horsfield on the scoresheet on the same weekend that record signing Clinton Morrison finally arrived in Birmingham to begin a preseason scrap for places up front. But if Blues winning, rather than losing, was not of much relevance, there were aspects of the trip to this seedy quarter of Glasgow that undoubtedly were. With Aliou Cisse's midweek tummy trouble ensuring he was again held back, that left only Kenny Cunningham- one of Bruce's two World Cup recruits - to make his first appearance in a Blues shirt. The Irish defender showed himself to be equally adept in two roles. Before the break, he looked at home in an attacking right-back berth in the 4-4-2 formation preferred by Bruce - but he then adapted with ease when pushed inside to form a three-man defence alongside Olivier Tebily and Darren Purse. “I wanted to have a dabble with the formation and the time to have a look is pre-season, when there's nothing at stake,” Bruce said.

Partick Thistle had initially looked more of a threat, notably when Tebily's miscued pass sent Scott McLean clear, but he blazed wide of Nico Vaesen's left post. Then, McLean headed home after Martin Hardie had headed against the bar, only for the other, more alert, linesman to raise his flag this time. Heaven alone knows what his colleague was doing two minutes later, when Bryan Hughes dinked a clever ball over the top, an extremely offside-looking Horsfield ran on into the penalty area, was upended by Kenny Milne and John hammered his penalty in off the post.

If Blues were lucky to be ahead, they were more accomplished after the halftime reshuffle. Twice, Martin Grainger ghosted into the box to meet early Devlin crosses, poking tamely wide from the first before miscuing his header, but the danger was there to see. Horsfield forced Kenny Arthur to save after John had crossed low from the left but then he had a huge assist for what proved to be the winner. Horsfield's header towards goal appeared to be cleared comfortably by Craigan. Yet, with not even the merest whiff of a Blues protest expended, the referee awarded a goal. Officials need warm-up games, too, to sharpen up their own act. Paul Walker gave the home fans something to smile about when he ran into the box after exchanging passes with fellow substitute Danny Lennon and beat Vaesen. But, after a tough week of preseason training, scant off-the-field entertainment and an awful lot of sitting on coaches, it was the Blues players who wore the biggest grins as they set out for home.

Scrapbook

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PTFC Website, 27th July, 2002

Stats Watch

● 19-year-old Mark Thomson plays his one and only game for Thistle.

● Paul Walker scores his last goal for Thistle.

ongoing sequences:

● 26 consecutive competitive appearances for Danny Lennon, 1st Dec 2001 to date. (Longest run since: Derek Fleming - 34 games, 25th Aug 2001 to 16th Mar 2002. 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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