A much changed Tannahill line up took
to the field against Paisley Thistle for what seemed
about the tenth time this season.
A lacklustre opening half hour saw very little goalmouth
action. Tans best chances came from set pieces, with
Calum Muirhead and Frazer Martin both coming close with
headers from corner kicks. Graham Morrison twice got
to the bye line on the left and both times failed to
pick out Martin in the middle.
Later, Morrison just failed to connect with Martin’s
cross then squandered a good chance when the ball rebounded
back to him, trying a ridiculous overhead kick when
Brendan Watt and John McNab were screaming for a lay
off.
The game burst into life on the half hour when Thistle
took the lead. A decent passing move from a throw in,
which caught Tans cold, led to a shot from the edge
of the box which took a wicked bounce and flew past
Peter Young in the Tans goal.
Almost straight away Tannahill drew level. A fine ball
over the top by Matt Gribben picked out the run of Davy
Clark who cracked a wonderful angled left foot drive
in to the far corner. Just five minutes later, Tans
took the lead. Good work again by Clark on the left
led to Martin going down under a challenge from the
Thistle goalkeeper. Referee, Harry Love, after waving
away an earlier claim, pointed to the spot. Watt stepped
up and despatched the penalty low to the keeper’s
right.
Then on the stroke of half time Thistle were awarded
a penalty of their own. A mazy run into the Tans box
was marshalled by Gribben who eventually got a toe to
the ball to knock it away. It was a surprise then when
the ref pointed to the spot after noticing a foul by
the big defender. Justice was done, however when Young
sprung to his left to brilliantly turn the spot kick
round the post.
HALF TIME 2-1
Tans improved after the break creating a number of
chances. The game was killed off early in the second
period when Clark chased a George Millar throw in to
the box before squeezing the ball into the path of Martin
who lashed home from close range.
Clark was causing Thistle all kinds of problems with
his pace and was unlucky on a number of occasions not
to add to his tally. None more so than with Tannahill’s
best move of the match. In a sweeping cross field move,
John Gordon powered over halfway and found Martin who
in turn released Morrison on the left. He looked up
and switched a chipped pass back across the box to find
Clark who fired in a terrific volley which was saved
high to the keeper’s left.
Morrison then went close with a low drive before being
replaced by Robertson who might have done better than
fire over after bursting into the box late on. Thistle
did have a couple of late efforts but failed to seriously
trouble the Tans goal.
Tannahill (4-4-2)
Young, Walter McMenamay, Millar, Gribben, Muirhead,
W Fraser (Gordon)
McNab, Watt, Morrison (Robertson), F Martin, Clark
For photos from the match click here
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