Match Report
Thistle enjoyed a comfortable win against Stirling Albion in their latest pre-season jaunt Ian McCall making full use of his squad during the 90 minutes.
In a game that Thistle almost dominated for the entirety the first chance came The Jags way as early as the 4th minute. Paul Paton would enjoy an impressive 45 minutes and in his first serious involvement in the game he sent over a cross from the right that Simon Lynch headed wide of goal.
Five minutes later another dangerous cross from the Thistle right, this time delivered by Stephen McKeown, posed the home defence problems with Simon Lynch just unable to deliver a finish in front of goal.
The chances continued to come Thistle’s way. Willie Kinniburgh headed a Marc Twaddle free kick wide of goal and a Simon Donnelly shot from the edge of the box went wide of goal.
The opening goal was only delayed though and it arrived in the 25th minute. Simon Lynch challenged for a Marc Twaddle cross and when the ball dropped into the path of Paul Paton he found the net with a fine shot from the edge of the box.
The play was almost exclusively in the Stirling half at this point and in the 33rd minute the Stirling defence was nearly unlocked once again. A clever David Rowson pass put Graeme Eaglesham clear wide on the Thistle left and his well placed cross deserved to have a Thistle foot on the end of it.
Thistle were playing some excellent football on a tricky Forthbank pitch at this point and nearly scored a quite excellent goal in the 38th minute. Simon Donnelly sent a cross field pass to Paul Paton who delivered a pin point cross onto the head of Donnelly who had continued his run. Only a fine save from Hogarth in the home goal denied Donnelly a goal.
Some neat close control at the edge of the box from Simon Lynch in the 41st minute almost brought reward but his chipped effort drifted wide of goal. Lynch again came close in the 43rd minute when he was inches away from connecting with yet another excellent Paton cross.
The half finished with David Rowson sending a rasping shot from 35 yards just a foot or so over the bar.
The second half saw both teams introduce a host of substitutes but Thistle continued to dominate. Four minutes into the second half and they really should have had a second goal. A quickly taken free kick from Mark Roberts found Simon Lynch ten yards from goal with only the keeper to beat but he sent his shot high over the bar.
A lovely interchange of passed between Mark Roberts and Simon Donnelly threatened to open up the Stirling defence but Marc Twaddle fopund himself crowded out and his shot was blocked.
Simon Donnelly was next to come close when he collected a John Robertson pass only to see the Stirling keeper grab his attempted chip above his head.
A Marc Twaddle cross in the 65th minute just needed Kevin McKinlay to make slightly better contact with his head to produce a goal but Thistle did finally have a second goal in the 72nd minute. A Ryan McStay corner was headed on by Ian Maxwell with Mark Roberts on hand to steer the ball home from the corner of the six yard box.
It was only in the latter stages of the game that Stirling were really able to threaten the Thistle goal and even then Craig Hinchcliffe dealt competently with anything that was thrown at home although he did produce a fine save to deny McKenna a goal.
