Partick Thistle Football Club

The doors officially opened on Thistle's pre-season build up this afternoon with a trip to Forthbank to face Second Division Stirling Albion.

Included in the Thistle starting eleven for this match were new signings Patrick Boyle, Martyn Corrigan and Bryan Hodge while Jim Hamilton and Chris Erskine took up places on the substitute bench.

Thistle quickly settled into a nice rhythm and following some crisp passing involving Bryan Hodge and the Spanish trialist Stephen McKeown sent a shot from the edge of the box just over the bar after just over a minute's play.  

Thistle were close to an opening goal again after 6 minutes. A pass from Alan Archibald in behind the Stirling defence found Liam Buchanan and his near post shot was pushed away by Christie in the Stirling goal.

Stirling were able to threaten the Thistle goal for the first time in the 12^th minute. A long ball from defence from Ross Forsyth found David McKenna whose shot was deflected wide for a corner kick.

A minute later Thistle felt as if the might have been given a penalty kick when Liam Buchanan went to ground with a Stirling defender in close attention. Referee O'Reilly, however, remained unimpressed.

Thistle were playing the better football and in the 22^nd minute a nice move involving Kris Doolan and an overlapping Paul Paton ended with the latter's back post cross being headed back towards goal by Liam Buchanan. There was, however, no Thistle player on hand to apply a finish.

It was Stirling though that took the lead in the 26^th minute with a goal that took almost everyone by surprise. A Stewart Devine free kick was received the merest of touches from the head of Ross Forsyth but it was still sufficient to glance the ball into the corner of the net.

From a game that Thistle had been dominating this became a match in which the home side started to cause Thistle some problems and Mullen was close to a second goal for Stirling in the 35^th minute but he was unable to direct his shot on target when left with just Tuffey to beat.

Mullen again threatened the Thistle goal in the 38^th minute but Archibald was swiftly across to snuff out any danger.

Thistle really should have been level in the 41^st minute. A perfectly weighted pass from Bryan Hodge found Kris Doolan no more than 8 yards from goal but he could only hit his shot off the legs of Christie for an unproductive corner.

Thistle started the second half with Ian Maxwell and Chris Erskine on for Paul Paton and Liam Buchanan a move that saw Stephen McKeown move up front and Martyn Corrigan move to right wing back.

Stirling were the first to threaten a goal in the second half with Ross Forsyth seeing a shot blocked after a corner had only been partially cleared.

Thistle's first glimpse of a second half goal came in the 54^th minute when the trialist saw his near post cross cleared for a corner.

Thistle made a further change in the 55^th minute when David Rowson replaced Patrick Boyle.

Thistle were an inch away from winning a penalty in the 59^th minute. A powerful Chris Erskine run was only halted right on the edge of the Stirling penalty area although it was felt that Erskine had just entered the box when he was fouled.

As in the norm with pre-season friendlies there were a multitude of changes during the second half and Thistle made another double change in the 65^th minute with Jim Hamilton and Paul Cairney coming on in place of Stephen McKeown and Bryan Hodge.

The number of changes both sides made clearly impacted on the flow of the game but Thistle were close to an equaliser in the 70^th minute but Paul Cairney's fiercely driven shot from 20 yards was always on the rise and it jus t cleared the Stirling bar.

Stirling too were close to a goal in the 73^rd minute when Jonny Tuffey was forced to turn a Liam Corr drive round the post for a corner.

A nice passing move involving the trialist and Kris Doolan offered promise but when the latter's cross was headed back across goal by Jim Hamilton the ball was cleared for a corner before the trialist could manage a shot. Hogarth was unable to gather the corner that followed but Chris Erskine was crowded out before he managed to fire a shot towards the Stirling goal.

Thistle were level with ten minutes of the game remaining. Chris Erskine was fouled inside the box with  Paul Cairney was the man entrusted with the penalty and he made no mistake when lashed the ball high into the net from the spot.

Stirling were close to restoring their lead three minutes later when Liam Corr curled a free kick just wide of goal following a foul by Martyn Corrigan.

Thistle had the chance to grab a win with two minutes remaining. Kris Doolan knocked the ball into the path of Chris Erskine but his shot was blocked for a corner kick.

Kris Doolan very snatched a win with virtually the last kick of the ball but Hogarth was able to push his shot away.

Although Thistle were unable to record a victory this was a more than useful exercise with fitness levels showing up well in hot conditions.

Teams:

Stirling: Christie (Hogarth), Feakes (McEwan), Forsyth (Young), Roycroft, Graham, Robertson (Murphy), Trialist (Taggert), McCord (Corr), McKenna (Trialist), Mullen (Trialist), Devine.

Thistle: Tuffey, Paton (Maxwell), Boyle (Rowson), Corrigan, Robertson, Archibald, McKeown (Hamilton), Hodge (Cairney), Buchanan (Erskine), Doolan, Trialist.

Crowd: 604.