Shettleston 0 Larkhall Thistle 1 – 18th August 2012

Stagecoach West of Scotland League Central District First Division
Greenfield Park, Shettleston, Glasgow
Shettleston v Larkhall Thistle

A fine sunny day in the East end of Glasgow saw Thistle visit Greenfield Park for the first league game of the season. More of the old stadium has gone the way of the bulldozer, leaving just the clubhouse end behind the goals, and a small section of shed beside the changing rooms.

TheJags began the game with a couple of changes from the Lanark game, Mark McKeever was moved to right back and Hugh Kelly started in an unfamiliar centre half role. Filling the two midfield slots left by the moves were Mark Canning and Scott McLaughlin.

Thistle started well and had the better of the first half but possibly the best chance fell to Shettleston just before half time when their striker found himself in the clear with a one on one with Thistle keeper Thomson, fortunately though he fluffed his shot.

Half-Time Shettleston 0 Larkhall Thistle 0

The second half continued in the same vein, with some feisty tackles flying in in the middle of the park and neither side producing many clear cut chances. Thistle got the breakthrough in the 64th minute when Graham Gracie picked up the ball in the wide left position. He took the ball forward unchallenged and fired a shot in from about 20 yards which the keeper looked to have covered fairly comfortably but somehow he managed to misjudge the shot and the ball hit the net.

Shettleston rallied late on and put pressure on the Jags defence, but Thomson in goals produced several excellent saves to keep them out, ably assisted by the defence and Andy Brown in particular. All in all an excellent start in what was a very difficult looking first game of the season.

Full Time: Shettleston 0 Larkhall Thistle 1

Thistle Team:
Thomson; Richardson, Brown, Kelly, McKeever; MacKay, Canning, Grant, McLachlan; Gracie, McGeachie
Scorer: Gracie

Best for Thistle on the day were Thomson, Brown and McLachlan