Larkhall Thistle have been drawn to play Shettleston at home in the first round of the Euro Engineering Central League Cup. There are 39 teams involved so there are seven games in Round 1, leaving 32 teams in Round 2. The draw for the second round has also been made and the Jags will travel to play St Roch’s if they get through. Dates for the ties have yet to be decided.
Thistle’s next two games are:
East Kilbride v Larkhall Thistle 5th January 2013, 1:45pm
Larkhall Thistle vLanark 12th January 2013, 1:45pm
Today’s game with Shettleston has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
The next scheduled fixture is Port Glasgow at home, next Saturday 22nd December at 1:45pm
The fixtures are out for the next four games, weather permitting of course.
8th December
East Kilbride Thistle v Larkhall Thistle
15th December
Larkhall Thistle v Shettleston
22nd December
Larkhall Thistle v Port Glasgow Juniors
29th December
BENBURB v Larkhall Thistle **
** Note this fixture has been changed due to Port Glasgow’s facitity being closed for the Christmas period.
All kick off times 1:45pm
In an interview with the Greenock Telegraph, Greenock manager Stevie Mooney has thrown out accusations that Thistle are their bogey team – although the Jags have been the only team to beat Greenock in the league this season. Not only that but both of last season’s matches between the teams were drawn.
Fate has also thrown up a strange quirk in the run up to today’s game at Port Glasgow. Thistle went to St Anthony’s on the Saturday before the 5-2 win against Greenock in September and won the game 3-2 and last week the Jags once again beat the Ants 3-2 on the Saturday before playing Greenock.
So is fate set to repeat itself today? Mooney says “We mustn’t look too far ahead and need to fully focus on the game. It was certainly a bad day at the office for us when we lost at Larkhall in September.
“They were well up for it then and it will no doubt be the same again tomorrow, so we will need to be on our toes.”
Thistle travel to play Greenock on Saturday looking to do the double on the league leaders. The Jags produced their best performance of the season so far in the corresponding fixture at home in September, running out 5-2 winners. Read report of Larkhall Thistle v Greenock.
After back to back home wins Thistle are sitting handily placed in fourth and level on points with third placed Carluke Rovers, a win would see the Jags only three points from the top of the table.
Greenock are sharing Port Glasgow’s new ground at Parklea, just off the roundabout on the A8, while Ravenscraig Park is being upgraded for the Commonwealth Games. Kick off is 1:45pm
Larkhall Thistle’s game today with East Kilbride has been postponed after a 10:30 pitch inspection due to a waterlogged park.
Our next game will be against St Rochs at home, next Saturday 17th November.
Central League First Division
Fullarton Park Glasgow
Bellshill Athletic v Larkhall
Larkhall Thistle kept up their unwanted run of defeats today at Fullarton Park, though a much improved performance should have seen them get at least a share of the points. In the end however the result again swung on several contentious refereeing decisions rather than being outplayed by the opposition.
Thistle started the game with a couple of changes from the defeat at Lanark, Mark Weir was recalled to centre half with Andy Brown switching to right back and Mark Russell dropping to the bench. JP Grant was also back in the team after suspension and he slotted into centre midfield, with Jack moving to the right and Scott McLachlan making way.
Bellshill started the game looking in the mood and their early pressure brought them a free kick on the right inside three minutes. Bellshill’s number 6, who had a hand in most things, swung a cross into the six yard box and it was met with a glancing header that dropped inside the left post of Davie McEwan’s goal leaving him helpless and the Jags a goal down.
Thistle fought back and a good run down the right side by Graham Gracie took him right to the byline, he cut the ball back but Canning’s shot was wide. JP Grant – back in the team after his two match ban – then played a great reverse pass across the park to Mark McKeever who got his cross in well but Jack’s effort was put out for a corner.
The game then settled for a ten minute spell where most of the action took place in the middle of the park and neither team created much in the way of real chances. It was to prove to be the calm before the storm of the frantic five minutes that followed.
On 28 minutes Larkhall pushed up and a Ross McGeachie flicked header landed perfectly in the path of Mark Canning who found himself clear with just the keeper to beat but unfortunately scuffed his shot. The ball went out for a throw in to Thistle and Gracie’s long effort managed to find it’s way to Grant at the far post who slid in to equalise.
Thistle had the bit between their teeth now and looked to take the lead, Grant’s cross found Jack in perfect position but his shot was saved. Just after the half hour point of the game the referee awarded a free kick to Bellshill inside the halfway line, it looked an innocuous challenge and manager Duncan Sinclair was spoken to for his protests. The free kick was taken quickly and the ball fell to a Bellshill player on the left who looked blatantly offside to everyone except the referee and he scored with a low shot.
Two minutes later Alan Flaming rose above his opponent to clear a high ball into the box but for some inexplicable reason the referee awarded Bellshill a penalty for the challenge. The penalty was scored and Bellshill were 3-1 up. The visitors pushed hard to get back into the game before the interval, in 39 minutes Mark McKeever fired in a cross which was headed just over the bar by Canning and another long throw from Gracie was headed over by Fleming.
Dean Richardson was booked for arguing about a free kick given against Fleming for handball.
Half Time: Bellshill 3 Larkhall Thistle 1
Thistle started the second half looking determined to get back into the game and right away a long pass from Grant out to the right landed perfectly in McGeachie’s path but his snap shot went wide. Bellshill then almost extended their lead when their best passage of play saw the ball being moved down the right and a cross met with a strong header that rattled the bar. It was deja vu five minutes later when they should have scored with a free header in the middle of the goals.
The Jags heeded the warning and on 57 minutes Gracie cut in from the left and his cross was handled by a Bellshill defender. JP Grant stepped up to pull it back to 3-2. Two minutes later Larkhall had the ball in the net for what looked like the equaliser only for the celebrations to be cut short when the referee disallowed the goal for offside. There was to be no respite for the home side though as Gracie sprinted clear on the left side of the box and was upended by a lunge from the Bellshill defender.Grant again took responsibility for the spot kick and levelled the game at 3-3.
Mark Weir was booked for a tackle from behind shortly after that and in the 67th minute came the Bellshill winner. The Larkhall defence was caught out by a through ball that left the number 10 in the clear with another Bellshill player in support and no Thistle defenders back. The player took the ball in towards Davie McEwan and as the keeper came out, rolled the ball to his team mate who slid it into the empty net.
The ball looked to have been played forward and as there were no defenders near, it’s hard to see why offside wasn’t given. Thistle fought hard to get another equaliser with Fleming again going close with a header from a Gracie throw and Weir’s header producing a great save in the dying stages of the game.
Fleming and Grant were both booked for dissent towards the end of the game.
A better performance on the day then from the Jags and a game which they didn’t deserve to lose. It was also good to see them scoring goals again after a three game barren spell. We will be looking to get back to winning ways on Saturday when we face bottom club East Kilbride Thistle at Gaworks Park.
Full Time: Bellshill 4 Larkhall Thistle 3
Thistle Scorers: Grant (3)
Larkhall Thistle Team:
McEwan; Brown, Fleming, Weir, Richardson; McKeever, Canning, Grant, Jack; McGeachie, Gracie. Subs Russell, McKay, McLachlan, Kelly, Moss
Booked: Richardson, Weir, Fleming, Grant
Best for Thistle on the day was Grant who made a big difference in the middle of the park and Gracie who had a hand in all Thistle’s goals.
Once again we are on the road this Saturday, 3rd November – making it six away games from our last seven played. Included in this run are four consecutive away league matches. No other club in the region has had such a run of away league and cup matches in the fixture list to date and we doubt very much whether anyone will. Let us state at this point whilst Royal Albert are our lodgers at this time we attach no blame to them whatsoever for this situation as other clubs involved in ground sharing have not been put in this position.
It can be said that two of these away games were Scottish Cup ties at Fochabers and Cumnock and quite frankly if it had not been for the generosity of everyone who travelled on the bus that’s supporters, committee and the playing and coaching staff we would have been well out of pocket even after the guarantee from Fochabers and the half gate at Cumnock. The cost of coach hire is now quite prohibitive these days even after getting what we considered were great deals for both trips.
We attended a meeting at Hampden on the 25th October at the request of the West Region to listen to a representative of HMRC speak to us about our resposibilities as regards PAYE and corporation tax. His opening gambit was to state that while he appreciated that we the clubs were all run by unpaid volunteers, the football clubs themselves were businesses generating income and in some cases paying wages and making profit and therefore were bound by the rules and regulations that applied. However there are two sides to this because as everyone knows the main priority in any business is cash flow and with this horrendous run of away games one of our main income streams i.e. gate receipts and the associated income has been non existent.
We use our website and home game programmes to advertise and sell tickets and look for sponsors for any function we are running. A perfect example is Saturday 3rd November when we are running a race night. With our last home game having been on the 6th of October, it has made it more difficult to sell tickets for this fundraiser.
In the current economic climate when some clubs are struggling and in some cases failing to meet their financial obligations on time, cash flow and a steady stream of disposable income is a must, because no matter how your team is performing clubs who own their grounds still have monthly fixed costs to meet so a regular flow of cash is important. We have seen a significant increase in season ticket sales and personal donations and this, with other ongoing income raising avenues, will help us greatly due to the lack of home games. The club would like to put on record their sincere thanks to everyone who has helped in our fund raising to date.
As a far as fixtures are concerned we would only say that all we ask in the light of what was heard at the HMRC meeting that the generation of income on a regular basis should also be considered when whatever little fixture planning is done that everything is taken into account and not just an effort to get certain fixtures completed no matter the cost to clubs whoever they may be.