Category: Match Previews

Gow win takes promotion out of Thistle’s hands

On: By: ian

Lesmahagow beat Benburb 4-1 tonight to set up a final day in the league that promises to be tension packed and nail-biting to say the least. Thistle take on Port Glasgow at home on Saturday, while at the same time phones will be pointed to Craighead to see how the Gow are doing in their final game at home to Dunipace.

Unfortunately the situation is now out of the Jags hands, if Lesmahagow win they go up – it is now as simple as that. If they don’t win and Thistle do win then the Jags are promoted. If neither team wins the league’s form team Shettleston go up thanks to their late surge which has seen them shoot up the standings to second place.

 

Match Preview Port Glasgow v Larkhall Thistle 4th May 2013

On: By: ian

Thistle travel to Parklea for the first leg of the double header with Port Glasgow knowing only a win will be enough to stay in the promotion race. St Anthony’s have played all their games and are five points in front so only two wins would see us overtake them. Even then the Jags would not be assured of promotion  as Lesmahagow could overtake us.

The big park at Parklea suited Thistle last time and we go there with happy memories of the best result of the season, a remarkable 5-0 win against champions-elect Greenock. Nobody is expecting a repeat of that scoreline today, the Port are still in there fighting to stay in the division and will be giving it there all in both games so anything won today will need to be hard-earned.

Match preview -Thistle v East Kilbride Wednesday 1st May 7:00pm

On: By: ian

East Kilbride were relegated from the West of Scotland League Super League First Division last season and like ourselves, were involved in a very tight relegation battle that went right down to the wire. Indeed if it hadn’t been for goal difference we could have found ourselves two divisions apart today instead of playing each other!

The visitors had spent the previous four seasons in the Super League so we haven’t played them for a while, they have been relatively successful with three top half finishes in that spell.  The “other” Jags have had a miserable season but have picked up a bit lately starting with a 5-1 win at St Roch’s.

About East Kilbride Thistle:
Founded: 1968
Ground: The Showpark, The Village, East Kilbride
Managers: Brian McMillan & Mark Wilson
Home colours: Black and White stripes
Away colours: All Red

Honours:
Scottish Junior Cup 1983
Central League Division 1 1992-93
West of Scotland Cup 1973–74
Central League champions 1974–75, 1975–76
Central League A Division winners 4 times
Sectional League Cup: 1974–75, 1982–83, 2002–03
Evening Times Cup Winners Cup: 1982–83

Although East Kilbride Thistle are a relatively new club to the juniors, they have done what many others have failed to do in lifting the highest honour in the junior game. Their proudest moment came as recently as 1983 when they beat Bo’ness 2-0 in the Scotish Cup final at Ibrox.

East Kilbride are currently campaigning to get South Lanarkshire Council to approve plans to redevelop the Showpark into a “community sports hub”. The ambitious plans include 7 and 11-a-side 3G parks as well as a 500-1000 seater stand in the main park. Part of the plan is for Clyde to relocate there and share the ground.

East Kilbride squad:
McGuiness
Kelsall
Emslie
McAneny
Sloan
Borg
Scott
McQueenie
Stewart
McRobert
Hastie
Jeffrey
Smith
Dolan
Gillies
Connolly
Campbell
Douches
Buchanan
McCrae
Martin
Harkins
Bennett
King
Craig
Bolato
Winters
Findlay
McBride
Clarke

East Kilbride were relegated last season from the Super League First Division and have found life just as tough in this division, losing all but one of their 16 games so far. They have been on the wrong end of some bad defeats, the worst of which was our 8-0 away win in the first game of 2013. They did a bit better in the Scottish however, travelling north to Ellon to take on the Aberdeenshire side and came back with a great 2-1 win before losing to Kinnoull in the next round. They also managed a win in the Euroscot Eng Central League Cup against Benburb, the only meeting so far between the sides this season.

 

Match preview – Thistle v Bellshill Monday 29th April

On: By: ian

Thistle improved their chances of promotion on Saturday – without even kicking a ball. Two of the games involving other contenders finished in draws and only Lanark among the chasing pack managed to get a win.

Tonight however will be a tough test and although Bellshill have nothing to play for in terms of the league, they will be only too pleased to scupper our push for the Super League. The Jags have had an up and down season but the one consistent factor is our failure against our local rivals. Of the seven games we have played so far against Lanarkshire teams other than the doomed East Kilbride – Lesmahagow, Carluke, Lanark and Bellshill we have only manged a single win and have lost five of them. Indeed if we had only won half of the derby fixtures we would be going for the league tonight instead of scrambling for the remaining promotion spot.

Tonight is probably our biggest game of the season and a win would put us in a really strong position with only three games left, against East Kilbride and the double header with Port Glasgow.

Today’s games

On: By: ian

Thistle have a day off today but there are two games being played that are vital to our promotion chances. Local rivals Lesmahagow take on leaders Greenock at home while Benburb face St Anthony’s in the Govan derby.

Incredibly, there are still eight teams who could still win the league and out of these the Gow still have most points to play for other than leaders Greenock so must be seen as serious contenders for a promotion spot. A win today would keep up the faint chance of somebody overhauling the long time leaders. A win for Greenock today would see them take the title.

Benburb also have a lot of games to catch up but they could blow the race for the other spot wide open with a win against the Ants today. A defeat today would see St Anthony’s chasing a maximum of 48 points with only one game left to play.

In the day’s only other fixture with a bearing on promotion, Dunipace who can still go up take on Neilston. The Pace still have an outside chance but have eight games left and they would need to be considered rank outsiders.

Match Preview – Thistle v Benburb

On: By: ian

We go into the last five games of the season still withan outside chance of promotion, although there are a good few teams still in the shake-up for the two places. Greenock  are all but up, although St Anthony’s, ourselves, Shettleston, Lesmahagow and Benburb could all mathematically overtake them. In the night’s other fixtures, Lesmahagow should move closer with a win at East Kilbride while something has to give at Shettleston where they play host to St Anthony’s.

The Bens will be very difficult opposition given the fact that they beat us very convincingly in March, albeit we were reduced to nine men through a couple of very dubious refereeing decisions. (See match report here) Thistle have had problems with reduced squad numbers in the last few weeks with injuries, suspensions and holidays all taking their toll but it was good to see JP Grant back pulling the strings in the middle of the park on Saturday.

The winner of this game will stay in the running for the promotion places but for the loser it will probably be a bridge too far.

 

Club news: Under-13 game, Sportsmans Dinner

On: By: ian

On Sunday 14th April the Thistle ground will host the semi-final of the Under-13 Scottish Youth Cup between Larkhall team Burnhead Colts and Hamilton Accies Boys Club, 1pm kick off. The game was originally due to be played on Sunday 10th but was postponed a couple of times.

It is the first time for quite a few years that a local team have reached the semis so come along and give them your support.

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We are holding a Sportsmans dinner in the  Community Centre, Montgomery Street on Saturday the 27th April. Speakers are current Forfar manager Dick Campbell – one of the best speakers on the circuit – and Willie Young, ex top grade referee and lawyer who has some great stories from his days as a Grade 1 and FIFA referee.

Tickets are priced £25 and include a 3 course meal. 7:00pm start for 7:30pm.

For Ticket details contact any of the following:
Stevie Johnston 07523153713
Chris Lenson 07878468937
Hugh Kerr 07746875347

Match Preview – St Roch’s v Thistle

On: By: ian

Thistle played St Roch’s in November last year and despite the loss of a player “The Candy” proved to be a very tough nut to crack, the Jags eventually running out 4-2 winners. St Roch’s were on a poor run of form at that point, our win being their sixth game without a win, having lost five of them.

After that game however, things became even worse for them with the loss of players and management having a devastating effect on their fortunes. They have lost all seven league games since, among them going down 7-1 at Lesmahagow and 7-0 at home to Neilston as well as 4-goal losses against Lanark and Benburb – both at home.

Worst of all however was last Saturday when things reached a new low with a 5-1 home defeat to East Kilbride, the visitors’ first and only points of the entire league campaign.

Our own form of late has been a bit hit or miss with excellent wins at the likes of Greenock and Neilston being cancelled out by poor performances at Carluke and Benburb. Despite our opponents toiling at the wrong end of the table nobody will be taking the win as a foregone conclusion and anything gained from the game will have to be hard-won.

There has traditionally been a bit of an edge in games between the teams over the years, going back to the early 70s when they met in the now infamous Scottish Cup ties. St Roch’s see this as a game they would love to win to start their fightback against relegation so despite the current form we can be sure of a hard game against a team that will be fired up and fully committed to getting a much needed win.

Here’s hoping for a good sporting encounter where the football is the only topic of after-match conversation.

Match preview – Benburb v Larkhall Thistle

On: By: ian

Larkhall Thistle travel to Govan today to take on Benburb in the league. The Jags are aiming to continue their recent run since the defeat at Carluke and extend their winning streak to three league games in a row for the first time this season.

A win or draw would see Thistle move up a place to third in the league if Lanark lose today at Bellshill, a Lanark draw would also do the Jags if we can win today.

Benburb themselves are probably sitting in a false position at fourth bottom as they have a lot of games in hand and could move up with a couple of wins. There is the problem though of having to cram a load of games in at the end of the season so it is a bit of an unknown quantity.

Good luck to Thistle today, here’s hoping for three points.

Neilston v Larkhall Thistle – Match preview

On: By: ian

Neilston were a bit of a mixed bag last season. In our first game with them at the Brig O’ Lea Thistle ran out comfortable 3-1 winners with the home team’s goal only coming late in the game as a consolation. However after parting company with ex-Thistle boss Bobby Crilly the Renfrewshire team’s fortunes had a remarkable turnaround and they finished the season as one of the strongest teams in the league.

The tables were turned in a big way in the corresponding fixture at Larkhall, with Thistle going town to a 4-0 home defeat in one of the worst performances of the season.

Neilston are one of a clutch of teams – including ourselves – who will fancy that they might go one better this season given how tight the league turned out to be last time round and the teams current league standings.

Another hard game in prospect then and hopefully a repeat of Thistle’s result last season.

Neilston Facts and Figures

Nickname The Farmers Boys
Founded 1945
Ground Brig O’ Lea stadium, Main Street,
Neilston.
Manager Robert Fox
Home colours – Red shirts, white shorts
Awat colours – Black shirts, white shorts

Honours:
Western League Champions 1947
Western League Cup Winners 1947
Renfrewshire Junior Cup Winners – 6 times
Renfrewshire & Dunbartonshire Cup Winners – 1953
Central League ‘C’ Champions – 1971
West Super League Division One winners – 2006
West Premier League Runners-Up – 2003
Sectional League Cup Winners – 1999, 2006

Although Neilston have never won the Scottish Junior Cup, they went very close to winning the Super League Premier division in 2002-2003, only losing to winners Pollok on goal difference.

Neilston’s most famous ex-player was Dixie Deans, who left the club to join Motherwell before playing for Celtic, Luton, Partick Thistle and Scotland. Other notable ex-players include Walter Reid, Jim McAllister, Willie Bell, Tommy McMillan and Peter Weir.

Neilston Playing Squad:
Goalkeeper
James Digney
Gareth Fulton
Defenders
Kieran McDade
Kevin Fraser
Robert Campbell
James Lennox
Craig Murphy
Tam Murdoch

Midfielders
Martin Hughes
Andy Gibson
James Canning
Steven Docherty
Andy Essler
Darren Christie

Forwards
David Adams
Robert Cameron
Derek Kennedy

Ex-Jags winger Andy Essler is on the books of Neilston and is still a handful at this level.