Ten men ‘Well Battle for a Point

Another good game from Kinniburgh

The omission of David Cowan caused Terry Butcher to juggle the defence and the result was Dirk Lehmann starting the game at the back. He deserves special mention for his efforts today. He was competent in his initial role but in the second half he moved back to his usual striker’s position and caused havoc in the Thistle box.

It was clear from the start that attitude and commitment would play no part in any failure. We pressed and harried with young Clarkson making the most of his first start. Indeed he scored an early goal in around ten minutes after a McFadden cross was not cleared.

Thistle soon levelled the game when Burns struck a lovely free kick into DuBourdeau’s postage stamp corner.

The ref then started his booking spree. He managed nine(!) by the break and two of those were shown to McFadden. He will now miss the next four games. His team mates had an hour to get used to his watching from the stand.

In the second half the ten men attacked the Cooper Stand goal and after a minute they almost went into the lead.

Burns scores

A Hammell free kick was met by Lehmann’s head and the rebound off the post fell to Partridge who managed to hit the ball over the bar from no more than a couple of yards.

We paid the price for the miss a minute later when the ref awarded a penalty (and another yellow card) when Kinniburgh was deemed to have offended inside the area. Burns scored the resulting penalty.

Thistle tried to kill the game. They tried to hold the ball at the back and caused our forward players to cover miles as they passed to the extra man. After an hour Lehmann moved upfield and he started to cause confusion.

The equaliser came with around fifteen minutes to go. We had a sustained spell of pressure with a Dirk Lehmann looping header pushed on to the bar.

Then Partridge made amends for the earlier miss with a back post header. A well deserved equaliser and one which had the home support on their feet baying for the winner.

The ref continued with his yellow cards and managed a dozen by the end of the game. The cheers at the final whistle for the battling ‘Well turned to boos when the whistler left the park.

A welcome point was gathered at the cost of a red card for Faddy and bookings for Hammell, Kinniburgh, Leitch Lehmann and Pearson. We will pay a price for the indiscipline.

Enjoy the break lads – let’s hope for a kind draw in the cup.