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| Matthew Shields |
 Matthew John Shields was born on Monday, 17th February, 1986, in Glasgow. The 5' 9 (10st 2lbs) forward signed for John Lambie's Thistle on Wednesday, 16th April, 2003 (having already appeared as a youth), having most recently been with Partick Thistle Boys Club. Aged 17, he made his debut appearance on Wednesday, 26th March, 2003, in a 4-0 friendly win away to Montrose. Amazingly, Matthew scored his only three goals for Thistle on the same day; on Saturday, 17th July, 2004, in an 18-0 friendly win away to Royal Highland Fusiliers. His account-opening hat-trick came in his fourth and final appearance for the club. Matthew's club-list included Partick Thistle and Neilston Juniors. |
 Gerry Britton once singled him out as the "one to watch" but it never happened for the youngster at Thistle. The 17-year-old got his first minutes in a mid-season friendly at Montrose in March 2003 and just 6 weeks later John Lambie put him on during his (then) "Firhill farewell" game at home to Dundee United in the Premier League, which Thistle lost by a goal to nil. That proved to Matthew's sole competitive appearance. He didn't feature at all for any of the Collins / Britton & Whyte managerial permutations in 2003-04, but the 18-year-old did figure in Britton/Whyte's pre-season plans in the summer of 2004, notably grabbing a hat-trick in the club's record 18-0 win over the Royal Highland Fusiliers over in Cyrpus! By 2008, Matthew was living and studying in America and playing for a team which he named as 'New York IT Athletic' on his social media at the time, although we're struggling to identify such a club, so have left them off the list for now. By 2009-10, he was back in Scotland and turned out for Neilston Juniors. |
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