9th Jul 2022 Stenhousemuir 1 Partick Thistle 2 (League Cup Group B - game 1)

matches:2022-23: ← 02game 0304 →

	Stephen Swift	Ian McCall	57y, 9m, 9d

		Jamie Sneddon; Kevin Holt; Aaron Muirhead; Stuart Bannigan; Cammy Smith
		David Mitchell; Harry Milne; Darren Brownlie; Aidan Fitzpatrick; Anton Dowds

Matty Yates (1-1, 63 mins)		Kyle Turner (1-0, 54 mins); Brian Graham (2-0, 75 mins)
none (1-1, 63 mins)		Brian Graham (1-0, 54 mins); Jack McMillan (2-0, 75 mins)
Scott Walker

Adam Corbett (Scott Walker, HT); Craig Bryson (Euan O'Reilly, 58 mins); Nat Wedderburn (Ross Forbes, 81 mins); Michael Miller (Adam Brown, 81 mins); Matty Yates (Niyah Joseph, 88 mins)		Kevin Holt (Darren Brownlie, 71 mins); Steven Lawless (Zander MacKenzie, 81 mins); Cammy Smith (James Lyon, 88 mins)

	Conor Brennan	Jamie Sneddon	24y, 10m, 3d
	Adam Corbett	Jack McMillan	24y, 6m, 21d
	Calum Yeats	Kevin Holt	29y, 5m, 14d
	Sean Crighton	Tunji Akinola	23y, 7m, 18d
	Nicky Jamieson	Aaron Muirhead	31y, 10m, 9d
	Nat Wedderburn	Stuart Bannigan	29y, 9m, 22d
	Michael Miller	Ross Docherty	29y, 5m, 16d
	Michael Anderson	Steven Lawless	31y, 2m, 27d
	Thomas Orr	Brian Graham	34y, 7m, 16d
	Matty Yates	Cammy Smith	26y, 10m, 15d
	Craig Bryson	Kyle Turner	24y, 7m, 29d

			28y, 3m, 8d

	Jay Cantley	David Mitchell	32y, 3m, 5d
	Scott Walker	Darren Brownlie	28y, 2m, 29d
	former Jag Ross Forbes	Billy Owens	19y, 1m, 3d
	Adam Brown	Ben Stanway	17y, 9m, 19d
	Euan O'Reilly	James Lyon	19y, 8m, 12d
	Niyah Joseph	Zander MacKenzie	16y, 10m, 11d

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Both clubs filled only 6 of their 9 allocated bench slots.

TTA report

Lawless, Smith and Graham all went close but slack play at the back almost let in the home side on the half-hour. Turner headed home a Graham pass (54). Unlucky Sneddon's fine parried save was tucked away (63) for 1-1 but a glancing header by Graham rewarded almost constant pressure (75), Turner hit the bar (89).

Media report

09-Jul-2022, ptfc.co.uk

A fast start from Thistle saw the away side take most of the possession in the opening minutes, with debutant Steven Lawless finding himself in space at the edge of the box, but the soft attempt brought an easy save for Conor Brennan. Again Thistle were on the attack, with a nice turn from Kyle Turner giving him a few yards, but his effort strayed wide of the target. It was a good spell of football in the first nine minutes in which the Jags dominated possession but couldn’t find an opening, as the hosts defended resolutely in the opening stages. 20 minutes in, Cammy Smith was next to have an attempt with a low effort which goes just wide of the goal. A long ball forward from Stuart Bannigan found its way to Brian Graham, who nearly opened the scoring with his first real chance of the game, the ball deflecting wide which Cammy Smith collected, forcing the first corner of the game. A great corner from Kyle Turner couldn’t find a finishing touch. The first real chance for the home side came from some poor defending, but resulted in the offside flag being raised. A somewhat frustrating decision for the Warriors fans who struggled to threaten in the opening 45 minutes, with stray passes and Thistle interceptions breaking down their attacks. The first half ended with an underwhelming 0-0 scoreline considering how much possession Thistle maintained.

The opening minutes of the second half saw Thistle pick up from where they left off before the break, with Kevin Holt’s shot from outside the box again straying wide to the home fans relief. However, this wouldn’t last as Ross Docherty floated a searching ball over to Brian Graham, who nodded it down to Kyle Turner, who calmly passed the ball into the back of the net to break the deadlock. The Jags continued with the momentum as Brian Graham collected a ball from Cammy Smith on the left hand side, cutting inside and finessing the ball just wide of the target. In an unlikely turn of play, Mikey Anderson found himself in space inside the box, the initial shot rifled towards goal was excellently blocked by Jamie Sneddon, the ball deflected outwards and landed straight to the feet of Stenhousemuir forward, Matty Yates who again struck the ball into Sneddon, this time deflecting into the back of the net. The goal gave confidence to the Stenhousemuir players, as they pressed high and managed to create another chance, but this time the effort from Matty Yates was comfortably saved.

A substitution from Ian McCall’s side saw the return of centre half Darren Brownlie, making his first competitive appearance in over a year replacing Kevin Holt, who was playing his first game in a number of weeks. It didn’t take long for Thistle to begin dominating again, as Brian Graham bagged his first goal of the new season. New signing McMillan, with an effective overlap and cross into the box found the striker, who glanced it past Conor Brennan before celebrating with the Red and Yellow Army. Newly graduated Zander MacKenzie replaced re-debutant Steven Lawless, who had a very promising 80 minutes, to make his professional debut. Cammy Smith went down for treatment in the dying moments of the match; he seemed okay but was replaced by former Warrior loanee, James Lyon moments after. Thistle weren’t finished just yet, with Kyle Turner beautifully striking the ball towards goal, for what seemed like the nail in the coffin, the ball struck the crossbar and bounced out of play. Ross Forbes’ corner reached Darren Brownlie’s head, but the ball ended up scrambling into the box, Sneddon coming across to rapidly collect the ball to prevent an opposition corner. The Jags were straight on the attack again as they secured two last minute corners, which ultimately resulted in the full time whistle being sounded. The two goals from Kyle Turner and Brian Graham secured three points in the Premier Sports Cup. A great start to the season!

Reaction

Thistle manager Ian McCall (speaking to Jagzone):

I thought we played an awful lot of really good stuff, although maybe a little bit open at times, and we gave away a daft goal. It was great for fitness in terms of playing in that heat, and a lot of boys got their first 90 minutes. We hit the bar, Kyle got his goal, Brian got his goal and maybe young James could have scored right at the end when he was right through, so it should have been more comfortable, but there was a lot to like about how we passed the ball and moved it around, and on a sticky pitch it wasn't easy to do that.

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