Tag: Central League First Division

Larkhall Thistle 5 Bellshill Athletic 1 – 3rd December 2016

On: By: ian

Gasworks Park, Larkhall
Larkhall Thistle v Bellshill Athletic
Central League First Division

The Thistle players limbered up for their big night out in Newcastle with a routine win against a frankly poor Bellshill side.

larkhall-thistle-v-bellshill-athletic-1
There was almost a full squad to pick from with only regular keeper Stuart Thomson out (holiday). Scott Niicholl was available again after suspension but Liam Mushett kept his place in the back three in what was Larkhall’s first home league game since Lesmahagow in early October.

The visitors got off to a lead against the early run of play with a swirling hit that dropped in over keeper David Thomson but that was almost the entire sum of their threat on the day.

The Jags for their part made heavy weather of the first half and although they bombarded the Bellshill with chance after chance, couldn’t manage to get the breakthrough that their play deserved as Bellshill clung gamely to their lead.

larkhall-thistle-v-bellshill-athletic-2
The game turned around five minutes before half time when Josh Payne scored directly from a corner with an effort that keeper Grant must have been disappointed with. Thistle managed to take a lead into the break with a second goal just before the whistle when Gracie latched on to a loose ball in a goalmouth scramble and slammed it into the roof of the net.

larkhall-thistle-v-bellshill-athletic-2
It was no more than Thistle deserved and there couldn’t have been too many complaints if the score had been four or five.

Half Time: Larkhall Thistle 2 Bellshill Athletic 1

The second half was a bit better for Bellshill in terms of pressure and possession, but unfortunately for them worse in terms of goals. They looked to have come out as if they were on a mission but Larkhall increased the lead seven minutes into the half following a good team move when David Reid got on the end of a Mark Canning cross and planted a great header into the bottom corner.

larkhall-thistle-v-bellshill-athletic-4
Although the Jags were two goals up, memories of recent home defeats to ‘Gow and Fauldhouse from winning positions made the lead less comfortable and the pressure was added to by Bellshill having the bulk of the rest of the second half play.

Indeed it wasn’t until seven minutes from the end that Thistle put the game out of sight when they went further ahead from the penalty spot, following another sweeping move down the left side. Mark Canning stepped up and sent Grant the wrong way to make sure of the points.

larkhall-thistle-v-bellshill-athletic-4
Substitute Matty Clarke put the icing on the cake with a tap-in two minutes from time from a cross by Ryan Innes.

larkhall-thistle-v-bellshill-athletic-5
Another good result that keeps the chase for promotion on track although the team never really hit the heights they are capable of. And Although the scoreline didn’t flatter Thistle at all, it was probably as much down to the level of opposition who will surely struggle to stay in the league at this rate.

Full time: Larkhall Thistle 5 Bellshill Athletic 1

Website man of the match: As picked by recovering Thistle stalwart Hugh Kerr – Josh Payne

Larkhall Thistle:
D. Thomson; Brown, Mushett, Reynolds; Kelly (Jack 63), Payne, Innes, Canning, Reid; McKeever (Clarke 78), Gracie (McStay). Subs: Nicholl, Burns

Bellshill Athletic:
Grant; McDonald, Jeffrey, Jushkowiak, Simon; Smith, Howarth, McCormack, Brunton, Nichol, Simpson

Scorers: Payne, Gracie, Reid, Canning, Clarke

Booked: Reynolds, Kelly

Video of the highlights below, unfortunately due to (cough…) technical reasons, the Bellshill goal is missing (and also Levi’s prediction that Thistle would go on and win).

Greenock 1 Larkhall Thistle 2 – 29th October 2016

On: By: ian

Ravenscraig Park, Greenock
Greenock v Larkhall Thistle
Central League First Division

Andy Brown returned from honeymoon but started today’s game on the bench while Declan Doyle retained his place at right back and Scott Nicholl began his suspension, leaving a makeshift looking defence but fortunately Niall Reynolds has come into some good form and held it together well at the back.

Matty Clarke returned to partner Graham Gracie up front as Gary McStay dropped to the bench.

Thistle started with the majority  of possession on the huge playing surface but there was hardly an incident of note for the first half hour of this game, the rest of the first half was a different story though as both teams made several good chances each.

Greenock brought the game to life with a mazy run that resulted in a shot that blazed well over the bar then Thistle replied with a drive from Reid cutting in from the left that was followed by a quick move that sent Gracie clear only for him to shoot weakly straight at the home keeper.

greenock-v-thistle-1
Stuart Thomson brought off a magnificent save just before half time to keep the Jags level, a ball was swept in from the left back position and found a Greenock player in space on the edge of the six yard box. It looked like he couldn’t miss but Tommo stretched brilliantly to palm it clear.

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Thistle had hardly had time to let the relief set in before they ran straight up the park and took the lead. Reid and Gracie played the ball about on the left then Div swung in a great cross that Matty Clarke rose and met and lifted over the home keeper.

Half time: Greenock 0 Larkhall Thistle 1

Greenock had been out of the game for most of the first half but the second period was a different story. They began in search of an equaliser and their early early pressure paid off. Another run down Thistle’s left resulted in a perfect ball into the six yard box that was finished well by McClure.

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Thomson had to get down well twice to keep the Jags level in this shaky early period as it looked like the home side were going to build on their momentum and get a lead and it stayed that way until midway through the half. Larkhall broke and Brian Jack fed Reid on the left, he drove on and hit a good shot that the keeper saved well and that was swiftly followed by Jack himself having a go with a curling effort that the keeper kept out of the top corner.

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Thistle were on top again now and had a golden opportunity to take the lead when Reid again broke down the left and as he homed in on goal unselfishly squared it for Gracie but he shot straight at the keeper from eight yards. Reid had the ball in the net minutes later with a close-range header but was ruled offside then Hugh Kelly had to react quickly to cover up for some defensive slackness as he dived in to head the ball back to Thomson and keep the Jags level.

The Jags got the winner with three minutes to go with a route one special, Thomson booted the ball long and it was flicked on by Reid into the path of Grcie who lobbed it over the advancing keeper.

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Matty Clarke gave his usual tireless performance and was replaced by Liam Mushett for the last few minutes as the manager looked to solidify the defence and hold on for the win.

On balance it was a win that Thistle just deserved although Greenock did very well to come back into it after a bad start and it keeps the Jags on the tails of joint leaders Cambuslang Rangers and St Roch’s who both also won today.

There were good performances throughout the team – Niall Reynolds had another good game and helped young Doyle who recovered from a few shaky moments. Kelly gave good protection to the back three and Reid also covered well at left back when required as well as bombing forward, Canning and Jack saw plenty of the ball in midfield and Josh Payne had his moments despite never hitting the highs of last month while Gracie took his goal well.

Full time: Greenock 1 Larkhall Thistle 2

Website man of the match: Thomson pulled off some great saves and was a close contender but David Reid was outstanding and used the pitch to full advantage as he constantly stretched the home defence and set up both goals.

Larkhall Thistle:
S. Thomson; Doyle, Reynolds, Burns; Kelly, Payne, Jack, Canning, Reid; Clarke (Mushett 87), Gracie. Subs: Brown, McKeever, McStay

Forth Wanderers 2 Larkhall Thistle 3 – 10th September 2016

On: By: hugh

Kingshill Park Forth,
Forth Wanderers v Larkhall Thistle
McBookie.com Central District First Division

Stewart Thomson (wedding) and Brian Jack (holiday) both  returned to the squad after missing the game against Neilston. However Paul Burns (wedding), Liam Mushett (work commitments) and Craig Rutherford (calf injury) were all missing. David Thomson retained his place in goal with Hugh Kelly starting in midfield. Thistle started brightly and Graham Gracie opened the scoring in 13 minutes after a fine move involving Ryan Innes and David Reid. As in previous games the Jags then proceeded to dominate the game but once again failed to take the chances they created with the home keeper having an outstanding game. Forth equalised 10 minutes before the interval despite the visitors having the majority of the play.

Half Time: Forth Wanderers 1 Larkhall Thistle 1

Worse was to follow at the start of the second half when Forth took the lead inside 50 seconds after a mix up in the Thistle defence. Credit to the Thistle they immediately took the game to Forth and equalised within two minutes through a well struck shot inside the penalty box by Ryan Innes. Thistle were now in control creating  chances which again they did not convert. However they took the lead with a well struck free kick from Reid giving the keeper no chance.

The game was now getting a bit tousy and the referee quite clearly was not in control of the game with players in both teams committing fouls which should have been punished. With  two minutes remaining the referee awarded Forth a penalty which to say the least was a mystery to most people in the ground Niall Reynolds tackling a Forth player in the box with both players ending up on the ground, the ball being cleared and play continuing. The referee then stopped the game, went back to the Thistle penalty box, booked Reynolds and awarded a penalty. Young David Thomson however had a magnificent save down to his right .

Three good points when we again missed numerous chances with credit to the players for fighting back from a 2-1 deficit.

On a day when everyone played their part the man of the match award goes to Graham Gracie for his outstanding work rate and involvement in the goals.

Full Time: Forth Wanderers 2 Larkhall Thistle 3

Larkhall Thistle:
D.Thomson  Reynolds, Brown, Nicholl; Payne, Kelly, Innes, Canning, Reid, Clarke, Gracie.

Subs. McKeever, Doyle, Jack, McStay, S. Thomson first game for a while when no substitutions were made.

Larkhall Thistle 1 Neilston 2 – 3rd September 2016

On: By: ian

Gasworks Park, Larkhall
Larkhall Thistle v Neilston
Central League First Division

Thistle began their home campaign with what looked on paper to be a difficult game, although Neilston finished just above the relegation spots last season they had got off to good start this season with a defeat at Pollok being the only blip in an otherwise 100% record.

Larkhall Thistle v Neilston 3

Thistle got off to a great start after only four minutes when Graham Gracie knocked the ball into the path of David Reid who took a touch and drilled a perfect low drive past the keeper.

The pair linked up well again minutes later to set up a chance for Matty Clarke but he could only blast his shot into the side netting, and although the Jags had the majority of the early play and created some good chances, it always felt that one goal wouldn’t be enough to win the game.

Larkhall Thistle v Neilston 2

The game did indeed turn as the half went on and ten minutes before the interval young David Thomson had to pull off a tremendous save from a point blank header to keep the Jags in front.

The referee came under heavy pressure from the Neilston bench who were screaming for a penalty every time the ball went into the box but he did well to keep his cool and rightly deny the claims.

Larkhall Thistle v Neilston 1

As the half went on though it looked more and more like Thistle should have taken better advantage of their superiority to add more goals and that the visitors would do the inevitable and equalise.

Half time: Larkhall Thistle 1 Neilston 0

The first chance of the second half came after 6 minutes when Gracie played in Reid on the left and he ran 30 yards before shooting wide, Josh Payne then made a couple of great runs down the right and produced two balls into the danger area that Innes and Reid should have done better with.

Unfortunately that was about as far as it went for Thistle on the day and the remaining 25 minutes or so belonged almost entirely to Neilston.

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The visitors created chance after chance and it looked only a matter of time before they equalised and the goal did come by way of a soft penalty award, converted after 68 minutes by Kennedy.

Hugh Kelly had surprisingly been left out for Paul Burns who was finding it impossible to keep up with the pace of the game and was taken off after an hour to be replaced by new signing Liam Mushett. The less said about the big defender the better too as he was promptly sent packing for advising the referee to go away in less subtle language.

Shug showed in the reaining 18 minutes why he should have been on from the start but with a man down Thistle were facing an uphill task to even salvage a point.

Larkhall Thistle v Neilston 4

Neilston were also reduced to 10 men late in the game when Clark was sent off for a crunching tackle on Ryan Innes but the visitors adapted better to the loss than Thistle and got the winning goal two minutes from time when a cross from the left went over Thomson and Young slid in at the back post to send the ball crashing into the roof of the net.

A great start for Thistle followed by a massive slump when they failed to build on the lead means they lost their chance to stay up with the early leaders in the league. The team is looking more settled now although there is still a bit of a weakness in defence, if Andy Brown was missing they would struggle badly and it looks like only really Hugh Kelly is capable of playing in front of a back three.

Full time: Larkhall Thistle 1 Neilston 2

Website Man of the Match: David Reid had a great first half but faded badly, Andy Brown gets it this week.

Larkhall Thistle:
D. Thomson; Brown, Reynolds, Nicholl; Payne, Canning, Burns (Mushett 60), Innes, Reid; Clarke (Kelly 72), Gracie. Subs: Stewart, McKeever, McStay

Neilston:
Digney; McDade, Geddes, Clark, Young; Stevenson, Docherty, Stoney, Cameron, Kennedy, McLachlan. Payne

Scorer: Reid

Booked: Burns, Nicholl, Kelly

Sent off: Mushett

Thorniewood United 1 Larkhall Thistle 2 – 27th August 2016

On: By: ian

Robertson Park, Viewpark
Thorniewood United v Larkhall Thistle
Central League First Division

Thorniewood United v Larkhall Thistle

Manager Dunky Sinclair returned for the first league game of the season and brought Paul Burns with him into the team, starting him in front of the back three. New signings Stewart, Richardson and Mushett all started on the bench along with Gary McStay and Mark McKeever.

Thorniewood took the lead after eight minutes when David Reid was adjudged to have mistimed an interception at a corner and fouled the ‘Wood attacker, Lennon scored with the resultant penalty.

Thorniewood United v Larkhall Thistle 2

The Jags equalised after a quarter of an hour with a well-worked goal when Josh Payne picked up the ball just outside the box and played a one two with Graham Gracie  before finding the smallest of gaps in the bottom right corner.

Thistle got the upper hand in the game after the goal and always looked the more likely to score, with efforts from Gracie and Reid going close. They took the lead three minutes before half time when the keeper did well to save from a vicious Reid drive but then somehow managed to spill the follow up effort on to his own goal line where Matty Clarke was waiting to tap it into the net.

Half time: Thorniewood United 1 Larkhall Thistle 2

The second half got off to a lively start with the Thorniewood’s Lennon getting booked for punching the ball into the net before Thistle were denied what looked like a clear penalty when Gracie was shoved in the back as he rose to head a great cross from Reid.

Thorniewood United v Larkhall Thistle 3

The half continued in much the same vein as the first with Thistle having the bulk of the play and being the dominant side but although they created chances they had to be content with the one-goal margin.

75 minutes in Payne won the ball on the right and set off on a brilliant run, finishing with a cross right on to Clarke’s head. Matty looked like he was about to burst the net but the home keeper pulled off a great save to keep his side in the game.

Thorniewood United v Larkhall Thistle 4

Clarke was then penalised for offside although he looked to have timed his run perfectly and was booked for lobbing the ball over the keeper into the net.

The manager used all three substitutes in the closing minutes to try and run down the clock along with some other timewasting tactics but it seemed to backfire as the referee added on five extra minutes at the end and the Jags defence had to scramble hard in their own area to keep the ball out at the end.

A good start and a million miles from last season’s opening debacle at Rossvale and Thistle can now look forward to next week’s home game with Neilston.

Full time: Thorniewood United 1 Larkhall Thistle 2

Website Man of the Match: Andy Brown was outstanding in defence, especially in the first half but even his performance was overshadowed by Josh Payne who now looks a real prospect and had his best game in a Jags shirt.

Larkhall Thistle:
Thomson; Brown, Reynolds, Nicholl; Payne (Mushett 88), Canning, Burns, Innes, Reid (McKeever 80); Clarke (McStay 90), Gracie. Subs: D Thomson (GK), Rutherford, Stewart

Thorniewood United:
Connell; McShane, Hewitt, Hamilton, McIntyre; Bowie, C.Jackson, Law, S.Jackson; Lennon, Higgins

Scorers: Payne, Clarke

Booked: Clarke, Nicholl, Gracie

Larkhall Thistle v Johnstone Burgh

On: By: ian

Thistle looked to try and put their Royal albert performance behind them and finish the season on a high note as they looked for revenge for a 3-2 defeat at Johnstone in November.

Read the full match report of Thistle v Johnstone Burgh here

Rossvale v Larkhall Thistle, Central League First Division

On: By: ian

Rossvale v Larkhall Thistle

Thistle made the trip to Petershill to play league new boys Rossvale for the first ever time – and must have wished they hadn’t bothered.

Click here for match report

Click here for full horror show

 

Benburb v Thistle 3rd June 2015

On: By: hugh

Thistle’s last game of the 2014 – 2015 season was a crucial game for the Bens, only a win would save them from relegation to the Central Second Division. Thistle  were safe and had nothing really to play for other than pride.

As Benburb were still awaiting completion of their new ground this game was played at Lochburn Park the home of Maryhill Juniors.

See full report of Benburb v Thistle here

Thistle v Lanark United, 22nd November 2014

On: By: ian

summary
Thistle met in-form Lanark in a game that was threatened by the recent rain and although it didn’t serve up the excitement and goals of last week, there were some positives to take from the game.

See full report of Thistle v Lanark here

 

Maryhill v Larkhall Thistle 24th May 2014

On: By: ian

Maryhill v Larkhall Thistle 24th May 2014
Thistle and Maryhill produced an entertaining last game of the season despite having nothing to play for, the Jags made a few changes but although they didn’t reach the heights of last week, ended the season with a decent performance.

See full match report of Maryhill v Thistle here