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.
Unfortunately a combination of heavy rain, snow and frost meant that there were hardly any junior football games played anywhere in Scotland during December 2012.
In common with a lot of other clubs, Larkhall Thistle didn’t manage to play any games in the whole of the month. Games against Greenock, East Kilbride Thistle, Shettleston, Port Glasgow and Benburb were all due to be played but fell foul of the weather.
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
Shettleston 0 Larkhall Thistle 1 – 18th August 2012
Larkhall Thistle 2 Carluke Rovers 2 – 25th 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