Heart of Midlothian 2 Partick Thistle 4

SPFL Premiership, Wednesday 7 May 2014 – Tynecastle

There are many teams for whom the end of the season can’t come quick enough. It’s somewhat ironic, therefore, that Hearts – whose season never really began thanks to the 15 points taken away from at the start of the league campaign – are wishing the season could carry on and on.

Having demolished Kilmarnock 5-0 in Gorgie on Sunday, Hearts made a couple of changes from that side. Hat-trick hero Ryan Stevenson was injured while goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald – named Hearts Player of the Year at the weekend – was rested with young Mark Ridgers given another chance to impress in goal.

Partick Thistle arrived in Edinburgh knowing a victory would boost their chances of avoiding the dreaded relegation play-off. However, it was Hearts who started the brighter of the two teams.

After just 15 minutes the home side took the lead when Callum Paterson ran fully 25 yards before rifling home a superb effort past Thistle keeper Gallacher to put Hearts ahead, much to the delight of the huge home support.

Three minutes later, young Billy King collected Dale Carrick’s brilliant pass but his effort on goal was high and wide. It was a miss Hearts would rue as Thistle grabbed an equaliser after half an hour. A long ball forward found Taylor who held off the attention of Danny Wilson to slot home.

However, with half-time approaching, Hearts regained their lead when Kevin McHattie’s fine free-kick was met by the head of Wilson and the Hearts captain nodded the Maroons back in front. 2-1 to the home side at half-time.

Thistle thought they had equalised early in the second half but Taylor’s effort was deemed offside. The equalising goal was merely delayed though. After 51 minutes, a brilliant long-range effort from fully 30 yards from Fraser restored parity.

It was a rip-roaring game and McHattie and Taylor both had chances to put their respective teams ahead. Midway through the second half, Thistle did take the lead when Mair headed home following a corner. 3-2 to Thistle and this became 4-2 five minutes later when Higginbotham fired the ball past Mark Ridgers, much to the delight of the travelling Thistle support. The final score was 4-2 to the Jags.

Thistle’s victory means they will remain in the SPFL Premiership next season. Hibernian will slug it out with Kilmarnock at Easter Road on Saturday with a winner-takes-all scenario to avoid the relegation play-off. In fact, a draw will be enough for Killie meaning Easter Road won’t be a place for the faint-hearted.

So Hearts ended their final home league fixture of the season with a disappointing result, a reversal of the score when they won at Firhill in April. We all knew Hearts were likely to go down this season but at least the team gave their support much to look forward to with their displays in recent weeks. A special mention too, for a special support. More than 14,000 turned up at Tynecastle on Wednesday evening. At the end they chanted ‘We’ll Support You Ever More’. No one can be in any doubt they will.

Hearts: Ridgers, Paterson, McGowan, Wilson, McHattie, King, Holt, Hamill, Robinson, Nicholson, Carrick. .

Partick: Gallacher, McMillan, Mair, Balatoni, Sinclair, Elliot, Fraser, Bannigan, Higginbotham, Craigen, Taylor.

Referee: Crawford Allan

Att: 14,059

Top man: Kevin McHattie

 

Partick Thistle 2 Heart of Midlothian 4

SPFL, Saturday 5 April 2014 – Firhill

Hearts SPFL life support machine, which had been threatened to be turned off by Hibernian and Aberdeen in the last six days, finally had its plug pulled in Glasgow despite Hearts producing, ironically, one of their best performances of the season to defeat Partick Thistle at Firhill.

The Maroons were faced with a scenario where they had to win each and every one of their remaining six SPFL Premiership games while hoping St. Mirren would lose all of theirs. There was as much chance of that happening as Leigh Griffiths signing for Hearts in the summer and so Hearts were mercifully relieved of their duties and will play their football next season outside the top flight of Scottish football for the first time since 1983. Whether that will be in the Championship or League Two may well be decided next week after yet another meeting of creditors in Lithuania. The earnest hope is a deal will be struck for the shares of the club meaning Ann Budge can take control and the Foundation of Hearts can lead the way forward – and crucially see Hearts only dropping down one division next season.

Yet again there was a sizeable support from Edinburgh whose devotion to their team this season has been nothing short of remarkable. Those who travelled to Glasgow were ‘rewarded’ by seeing their team go a goal down after just five minutes. A long ball forward reached Doolan who fired past Hearts keeper Jamie MacDonald to put the hosts a goal up and invoke the predictable ‘Hearts are going down’ chant from the home support.

Hearts, with Brad McKay, Dale Carrick, Scott Robinson and Billy King replacing Danny Wilson – who was suspended following his red card against Aberdeen on Wednesday – Paul McCallum, David Smith and Sam Nicholson, fought back but nearly went two goals down when Taylor fired over the bar from 18 yards. Doolan then had a chance for his second goal after fine build up play but his effort was saved well by Jamie Mac.

Hearts then almost grabbed the equaliser when Scott Robinson got on the end of a Kevin McHattie corner only for Thistle keeper Gallacher to produce a superb save. Billy King then had an opportunity to level the scores when he latched on to Dale Carrick’s through pass but the youngster fired his shot wide and it began to look as if it would be one of those days. However, the Maroons would not be denied and three minutes before half-time, King turned provider when he crossed for Carrick to head home the equaliser. 1-1 at the interval.

While it took Thistle just five minutes to score in the first half, it took the Jambos just four minutes of the second period to go in front. Billy King collected the ball 25 yards from goal and unleashed a superb shot which flew past Gallacher and into the net to put the visitors in front. 12 minutes later, Scott Robinson’s corner found the head of Ryan Stevenson whose header found the corner of the net to put Hearts 3-1 ahead with less than half an hour to go.

Hearts were rampant now – something that hasn’t been said too often this season – and six minutes later they scored a fourth goal. The hard-working Robinson raced down the right wing before crossing to Stevenson. ‘Stevo’ turned and fired in a brilliant shot which was beyond Gallacher and, astonishingly, it was now 4-1 to Hearts.

With the news that St. Mirren were losing at home to Motherwell, it seemed Gary Locke’s side were about to survive for another day, even when McMillan pulled a goal back for Thistle with two minutes to go. However, any thoughts of the ‘Great Escape’ faded with the news that St. Mirren had equalised against Motherwell – then disappeared entirely when news filtered through that the Paisley Saints had scored twice in two minutes to win the game. Hearts relegation, therefore, was confirmed despite a superb second half performance in Glasgow – and a result which puts Partick Thistle in the dreaded play-off place.

Defiant Hearts supporters chanted ‘we’ll support you ever more’ as the emotional Hearts players left the field at the end of the game. With performances like this, surely it will be only a matter of time before Hearts are back in the big time.

Partick Thistle: Gallacher, McMillan, Taylor-Sinclair, Bannigan, Gabriel, Mair, Higginbotham, Fraser, Taylor, Doolan, Erskine.

Hearts: MacDonald; Paterson, McGowan, McKay, McHattie; Robinson, Hamill, Holt; Stevenson, Carrick, King.

Referee: Stephen Finnie

Att: 4,262

Top man: Billy King

Heart of Midlothian 0 Partick Thistle 2

SPFL, Sunday 5 January 2014 – Tynecastle

2013 was a miserable year for Hearts and their supporters. A host of experienced players left the club, there was huge disappointment in losing the League Cup final to St. Mirren in March and the club plunged into administration in June. The latter incident had huge ramifications with Hearts beginning season 2013/14 with a 15 point deduction in the SPFL – a handicap they’ve been unable to overcome thus far.

2014 hasn't started any better – defeat in the Edinburgh derby from Hibernian at Easter Road on just the second day of the year. With the gap at the foot of the SPFL Premiership table widening instead of reducing and relegation for the first time in over 30 years now a near certainty for Hearts, it was a somewhat disillusioned Hearts support who trudged along to Tynecastle for the first home game of the year.

True to form of late, Hearts produced another dismal performance as Partick Thistle easily recorded their first win at Tynecastle since 1995 thanks to first half goals from Taylor and Taylor-Sinclair.

Hearts were without the suspended Jamie Hamill with David Smith finding a starting place following his decent showing at Easter Road on Thursday. Skipper Danny Wilson was still out, a huge blow coupled with Hamill’s enforced absence.

After an early chance for the home side - Ryan Stevenson’s effort couldn’t get past Thistle keeper Fox – it was an unlucky 13^th minute for Hearts as the visitors took the lead. A long ball should have been dealt with by home defender Dylan McGowan but he was easily muscled out by Taylor who poked the ball past Jamie MacDonald from six yards. The groans from the frustrated home support told its own story.

Ryan Stevenson had a half-hearted effort on goal after 35 minutes but, if truth be told, it was a poor game with neither side looking as if they could string more than two passes together. Six minutes before half time, Thistle doubled their lead. From a corner kick, Taylor-Sinclair had the freedom of Gorgie Road to head home and put the Jags 2-0 ahead at half time.

There was at least some improvement from Hearts in the second half although given their woeful first half display this was hardly difficult. David Smith produced a fine cross after the restart which Stevenson headed just over before Callum Tapping hit the crossbar from 30 yards out. Despite a better showing, Hearts just could not find a way past the Thistle defence even when the visitors were reduced to ten men nine minutes from the end when Bannigan was shown a second yellow card by referee Iain Brines.

The game ended with a cacophony of boos from those Hearts fans who stayed until the end of the game. Their loyalty to their club shows no sign of abating – the attendance of 13,763 at Tynecastle was 5,000 more than any other SPFL game this weekend – but even the diehard fans now realise the writing is on the wall for Hearts hopes of defying the odds and remaining in the top flight of Scottish football. Hearts manager Gary Locke seemed to acknowledge this after the final whistle.

 “It was a sore one to take” said the Hearts boss. “I’ve said to the players we need to play for 90 minutes not just for 45. There’s no doubt we’re up against it but I won’t accept relegation until it’s mathematically impossible to avoid. But we can’t afford to feel sorry for ourselves. We have another game next week and we’ll need to defend better. That first half performance today was just unacceptable.”

Hearts: MacDonald; McGhee, McKay, McGowan, McHattie; Smith, Tapping, Robinson, Walker, Stevenson, Paterson

Partick Thistle: Fox, O'Donnell, Taylor-Sinclair, Muirhead, Balatoni, Craigen, Bannigan, Lawless, Piccolo, Taylor, Higginbotham

Referee: Iain Brines

Att: 13,763

Top man: David Smith

 

 

Scottish League Cup Final 1971

Scottish League Cup Final 1971

Partick Thistle 4 Celtic 1

Occasionally the eyes of the football world are widened with astonishment by a particular result or performance which, thankfully, reinforces the theory that anything can happen when eleven men face eleven men. Whilst, over an arduous League campaign, the cream invariably rises to the top, the fascination of cup competitions undoubtedly encourages the supporters of the so called lesser teams to think that this might just be their day. This theory has particular credence north of the border where the names of Celtic and Rangers are etched over much of the silverware. And so it proved in spectacular style on October 23rd 1971 for the die-hards of Partick Thistle - for in a sensational Scottish League Cup final this, in the words of Churchill, was to prove their finest hour.

Thistle were - some say still are - the great enigmas of Scottish football. That they started season 1971-72 rather tentatively was no great surprise - after all they had been newly-promoted from the Second Division where only a few months before they had sampled the delights of travelling to Brechin, Stranraer and Stenhousemuir. Now that they were back in the big time, there was the usual optimism at Firhill but, if the truth be told, consolidation would be the main objective. The League Cup draw for the new season, however, had created a stir because in the opening sectional round Celtic and Rangers had been drawn in the same group - and with only one team qualifying for the knock-out stages the opportunity was there for a provincial club to reach a Hampden Cup final. Partick Thistle were drawn with Arbroath, East Fife and Raith Rovers but, as unpredictable as ever, the Glasgow side stumbled across the finishing line rather than with the expected sprint.

Indeed Thistle had to beat Alloa Athletic in a play-off to claim their place in the last eight. When they lost the first leg of the quarter final 2-0 to an impressive St. Johnstone side -who had reached the final themselves two years earlier - it seemed the end of the road. But the fiery passion of the Maryhill club's support was rekindled again as the Jags won the return leg 5-1 to claim their place in the semi-finals. It was an odd looking last four in what had already been a remarkable League Cup - the semi-finalists were Thistle, Celtic, St Mirren and Falkirk.

Thistle manager Davie McParland knew if his side could avoid the green machine in the draw there may never be a greater chance of glory. His prayers were answered when Thistle's name came out of the hat with Falkirk and the Jags duly claimed their first cup final appearance for thirteen years by winning the Hampden semi-final 2-0.Predictably their opponents in the final were to be Celtic - League champions since 1965 and competing in a remarkable eighth successive League Cup final.

Not surprisingly the bookmakers made Celtic odds on while you could have named any price you wished for Thistle. It seemed that Jock Stein's men needed only to turn up at the national stadium to collect yet another trophy - but as the teams ran out before a crowd of nearly 63,000 on that late autumn day Thistle had other plans.

Celtic: Williams, Hay, Gemmell, Murdoch, Connelly, Brogan, Johnstone, Dalglish, Hood, Callaghan and Macari.

Partick Thistle: Rough, Hansen, Forsyth, Glavin, Campbell, Strachan, McQuade, Coulston, Bone, Rae and Lawrie.

The loss through injury of captain Billy McNeill was a blow to Celtic and his absence seemed to instill an uncertainty in the Parkhead defence. Jimmy Bone went close for Thistle in the opening minutes and this seemed to signal to the men from Maryhill that Celtic were there for the taking. In the ninth minute the Celtic defence failed to clear a corner and the ball fell to Thistle captain Alex Rae who struck a right foot shot from eighteen yards which screamed past goalkeeper Williams. 1-0 to Thistle! A start no one predicted but surely Celtic would wake up from their lethargy and strike back? Six minutes later there was another goal - and it was 2-0 to Thistle!

Bobby Lawrie collected the ball from Bone, ghosted past Davie Hay as if he was not there, and cracked a tremendous angled shot beyond Williams. Barely quarter of an hour gone and the crowd began to sense something remarkable was about to happen. Even more so when Celtic's mercurial winger Jimmy Johnstone had to leave the field with an ankle injury, to be replaced by full-back Jim Craig. This meant switching Davie Hay into midfield, and while Celtic were still sorting themselves out Thistle, remarkably, were launching wave after wave of attacks. When the ball swung into the box the Celtic defence staged their own version of "after you Claude". Dennis McQuade did not hang about and poked the ball home from six yards. 3-0 to Thistle!

The Hampden crowd were stunned. The Celtic players looked on in disbelief and their torment was not over yet. Six minutes later Thistle were awarded a free kick midway inside the Celtic half. Bobby Lawrie took it quickly and passed to Jimmy Bone. The big centre forward couldn't believe his luck as he was allowed the freedom of Hampden to direct the ball past an equally disbelieving Evan Williams. 4-0 to Thistle!

When the half time whistle sounded, the Thistle players marched off to a tumultuous reception from their outnumbered but vociferous support. The Celtic end stood in stunned silence as if collectively in a bad dream. Public address announcers at grounds throughout Scotland were the subject of ridicule as they read out the half-time score to supporters attending various League fixtures around the country. Partick Thistle 4 Celtic 0 was greeted with undisguised derision. When the second half kicked off, there -was only one option left for Celtic.

The rollicking they received from manager Jock Stein at the interval may -well have registered on the Richter Scale and they set about trying to repair the damage. Murdoch, Dalglish and Macari all had excellent chances - but a combination of bad luck and inspired goalkeeping from young Alan Rough kept the Celts out until the 70th minute when Kenny Dalglish finally found the net. The Celtic onslaught grew even more ferocious in the last twenty minutes but Thistle held on for a famous 4-1 victory over a side who were not only Scottish champions but also amongst the best in Europe.

Jock Stein was magnanimous in defeat afterwards. While admitting Celtic committed some shocking errors in defence, he acknowledged that, on the day, Thistle were the better team and played some sparkling football.Thistle's jubilant manager, Davie McParland, paid tribute to every one of his players and said it was the greatest day of his life. The Maryhill area of Glasgow came to a standstill that Saturday night as thousands of red and yellow bedecked Thistle fans thronged the streets to see their heroes come home with the cup - Partick's first major honour for precisely fifty years. In keeping with the clubs rather slapstick image, when the officials got back to the Firhill ground proudly clasping the League Cup there were a few minutes delay before they could enter the club offices. Someone, it transpired, had misplaced the key! Once the triumphant players gained admission to their own ground the celebrations went on well into the night.Indeed one wonders if the party lasted for seven nights - the following Saturday Thistle lost a League game 7-2 to Aberdeen...

The Thistle team that overwhelmed Celtic made such an impression that Alan Rough, John Hansen, Alex Forsyth, Ronnie Glavin and Jimmy Bone were all to make future appearances for Scotland, albeit that most of them had moved on to other clubs before international duty was to call. However Alan Rough was to become Thistle's most capped player of all time and John Hansen's younger brother was about to make his debut in Thistle colours - Alan Hansen esquire would certainly go on to make a name for himself. Jimmy Bone and Ronnie Glavin would, in time, sign for Celtic but no matter what else those eleven players would do with their careers, they would forever be remembered for that incredible day when Partick Thistle, butt of many a music hall joke, got the last laugh on the biggest stage of all...

What's the Score?

We live in an age where communication is instant. Indeed, we demand it to be so. Satellite technology and the advance of the internet and mobile phones means that no matter where you are in the world you can have almost instant access to any sporting event worth its salt. It’s a far cry from when I first began going to football back in the late 1960s.

Back then, satellite technology was in its infancy. Yes, the USA were putting men on the moon but life in Scotland was literally more down to earth. Football was different four decades ago. There were only two divisions, First and Second with eighteen teams in the top flight. Teams would play each other just twice a season in the league and if my team Hearts were playing away - always on a Saturday afternoon in the days before games were covered live on television - the reserve team would be playing our opponents reserve team at Tynecastle.

Hearts struggled throughout the 1970s and attendances at Tynecastle were about half what they are now. On cold winter afternoons with a biting wind and lashing rain fans would huddle in the old Tynecastle shed urging on the likes of Rab Prentice, Drew Busby and Donald Ford. Unless you had a transistor radio with you - it’s a seventies thing, younger readers - getting the half-time scores from other games usually meant forking out a shilling (five pence) for a programme (in the days before they were called match day magazines). The other fixtures would be printed with capital letters next to them and a man would climb the half-time scoreboard on the Gorgie Road terracing slotting numbers on the board. For example, next to the letter A he would place 1-1. A quick look at the programme would show Aberdeen were drawing at home to Hibernian…

I was living in Aberdeen in 1971 when Partick Thistle recorded their famous League Cup Final triumph over Celtic, who were then one of the best clubs in Europe. I was at Pittodrie with a friend and there were huge hoots of derision when the fella on the half-time scoreboard on the then wide open Pittodrie terracing put 4-0 next to the letter A. The silly man must have got the score the wrong way round we assumed. As if Thistle would be four nil up against Celtic at half time we chortled. Astonishingly, it was true…

Back in the 1970s, the term mobile phone meant someone picking up their old dialling contraption and throwing it across the living room on discovering on BBC1’s Grandstand results service that their team had lost at Arbroath. In fact, a good many households didn’t even have a telephone - we didn’t get one in our house until 1976. The internet was something connected with the space agency NASA. The radio was the main source of getting updated football scores and tuning into Radio Scotland was a challenge in itself. No digital radio then, of course. It was VHF and medium wave and I seem to recall Radio Scotland being an extension of BBC Radio Four. So much so, that Sportsound - or Sportsreel I think it was called back then - didn’t start until 3.30pm on a Saturday afternoon. When I lived in Aberdeen as a child I used to spend an anxious half an hour from three o-clock on a Saturday wondering how the mighty - okay this was the 1970s so not so mighty - Jambos were getting on. It was at this time my pessimistic streak developed and has remained with me to this day. Hearts away to Dumbarton? Ach, they’ll skoosh it. By half past three, we’re bound to be at least three goals ahead. Then the dulcet tones of presenter Brian Marjoriebanks would come on and after updating us on Celtic and Rangers first - some things never change - eventually he would advise ‘and the latest from Boghead is that Dumbarton lead Hearts by a goal to nil…’ I soon learned to accept crushing disappointment as a way of life. As my father used to say to me ‘well, son, you chose to follow Hearts…’

Those of us who grew up in the 1970s and were avid football fans will remember the magnificent David Francey as Radio Scotland’s commentator supreme. Francey sounded like a loveable grandad, someone who would offer you sweets when you were expressly forbidden to have anything to eat before supper. ‘Oh and there’s a drive from the edge of the penalty box which has just whistled past the left hand post of Jim Cruickshank’ - his commentary often gave us better pictures that Archie Macpherson did in the edited television highlights on Saturday evening. Having said that, taking a radio to the game to get the other scores was often fraught with danger. When Hearts needed just a point from that game at Dens Park on the final day of season 1985-86 and hoped Celtic wouldn’t get the avalanche of goals they needed at St. Mirren to address their inferior goal difference the fella standing in front of me at Dundee dared to relay the news that The Hoops were four nil ahead at half-time. He was either very brave or very stupid depending on your view…

When the dust had settled on a Saturday afternoon and all the results were in the Hearts result would determine whether I nipped down the road to the local newsagent for a copy of the Saturday sports paper which was rushed out shortly after five o’clock and had all the results and brief match reports from the top games. Nearly every city had one. In Edinburgh it was the Pink News, printed on horrendous pink paper; in Aberdeen it was the Green Final printed on - well, you get the picture. After scouring through the paper to get scores and reports your hands were usually black with newsprint. I still recall the air of anticipation waiting in the newsagents for the screeching sound of the delivery van whose driver would lob a freshly printed batch of papers toward the door of the shop with the accuracy of a Danny McGrain throw in.

We forty something fans are often accused of looking at the past through rose-tinted - or in my case maroon-tinted spectacles. However, I can’t deny there were some truly awful games at Tynecastle three decades and more ago. Moreover, it’s difficult to imagine going to games now without having instant access to other scores through mobile phone and satellite technology.
However, there was an innocence about the days before mass technology I miss. The days before everything was sponsored, strips were emblazoned with names and most of us actually stood on the terracing for ninety minutes. On the other hand I don’t miss standing on the wide-open terracings in the middle of winter with the rain running down the back of your neck; the pissheads who stumbled through the turnstyles at 2.55pm having been in the pub for the past three hours and who would urinate down the back of your leg; or the ever present threat of violence that meant when you wore your team’s scarf walking down the road you were asking for a kicking.

Something I’ll hang on to next time Christian Nade’s attempt on goal knocks a Blackberry from the hands of a fan in row 25 of the Gorgie Stand…