Badd Bud: In Your House – The 2025 Scottish League Cup Final

Months of action boiled down to this one game, 90 (or 120 and penalties) separated us from a second League Cup triumph under my stewardship.

Standing in my way was a St. Mirren side who are having a decent season by their standards, sitting in eighth place in the Premiership and comfortably clear of the bottom two, hoping to better last season’s position of…eighth and comfortably away from any relegation trouble.

Gary Bowyer is in charge of the Buddies, taking over from Jack Ross, who returned to guide them back to the top flight in the 2023/24 season and return to Sunderland for a second spell.

Unlike us, they had to battle through the group stage to get to the final, defeating Bonnyrigg Rose, Queen of the South, Albion Rovers (on penalties) and Ayr United to finish top of their group.

Dundee United, relegated from the Premiership last season (24/25) were eliminated in the Round of 16 before the Buddies claimed their biggest scalp.

In the quarter-finals, faced with the challenge of Rangers, the Buddies showed no fear and stunned their visitors, gaining revenge for the painful defeat in the 2010 Final, when Rangers triumphed with just nine men.

Livingston, who are in the top half of the Premiership this season (so far) were then downed in the semis to set up the showpiece with us.

In all honesty, I was beginning to feel a bit like Jock Stein when he mentioned the dangers of thinking you have a game won before you play it, in which he lambasted his Celtic side’s performance when Thistle crushed them in the 1971 Final.

A/N: I have attached a link to a Facebook page with the interview, I have been unable to find it on YouTube to embed it. – Marc

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=185256963595048

Why? Because we came into it as favourites, and had all the pressure on us, at least when you face one of the Old Firm, there’s no pressure on you to perform, it’s all on them.

Getting off to a good start was imperative, and we pushed the Buddies up the park from the first whistle. We were rewarded in the fifth minute when Keiran Hamill, who was just about available for the showpiece after a knock earlier in the month, turned and fired beyond Ahamada in the St. Mirren goal.

Jack McMillan’s quickly-taken throw to Teddy Jenks caught them off guard. A quick one-two between them sent McMillan into the channel, and he found Scott Tiffoney practically at the byline. Finding a route to goal blocked by Marc Bola, Tiffoney slid in, Hamill pounced on Keanu Baccus’ dallying, offloading to Teddy Jenks in a crowded penalty box before Jenks teed Hamill up for a shot on the turn into the bottom corner.

Tiffoney and McMillan were their tormentors in chief, and their dominance down the St. Mirren left had them creaking under the pressure. They were lucky not to go 2-0 down in the 30th minute when Teddy Jenks broke into the box, but his effort was high and wide of goal.

That attempt did not work out, but our next foray forward punished the Buddies for a costly mistake that looked to put some breathing space between us and our opponents. Former Motherwell man James Scott’s attempted cross-field pass was intercepted by Owen Beck, who moved the ball forward to Greg Kiltie, and he slipped the ball through to Keiran Hamill to sweep the ball beyond Ahamada.

One thing that should be known about Partick Thistle, whether in reality or the virtual world, is the notion that if it’s going too well, it probably is.

The Buddies pulled one back a minute before the interval. It was a stunning individual effort, in fairness to James Scott, who beat half my team before eventually curling the ball home from inside the penalty area.

Not wanting to panic, I told the boys they were doing well and that they shouldn’t worry about their goal back, as it had been their first meaningful attack in a half we otherwise dominated and that we could regain control if we started the second half like we did the first.

And sure enough, we had the ball in the net for a third time in the 57th minute when Malachi Fagan-Walcott rifled home after a stramash inside the penalty area following a Scott Tiffoney corner. Unfortunately for us, the joy was cut short when VAR intervened and awarded an indirect free-kick after it showed Jack McMillan had diverted the ball into Mal’s path with his arm.

Three minutes later, we had another couple of close calls, the first being when Keiran Hamill was denied a hat-trick from a close range by an excellent save from Ahamada and then from the subsequent corner when the ball was worked back out to Greg Kiltie, but his shot from 25 yards sailed harmlessly into the ‘keeper’s arms.

With another chance spurned by Keiran Hamill in the 70th minute, it looked like a (legitimate) third goal was beyond us.

Until the 88th minute when Jack McMillan’s lung-bursting run to the byline and cross was nodded in by Mikey Johnston.

For the second time in four seasons under my management, Partick Thistle have WON the Scottish League Cup.

Posted on June 12, 2024 by Marc Wallace 0

Against The Machine In Florence – December 2025

December is always a hectic month in the Scottish Premiership with games crammed in before the small mercy of a couple of weeks off, if that, for a winter break that I think is unfair and should be extended to the entire SPFL and not just the top flight.

We began the month with a trip north to Dingwall to take on a Staggies side pushing hard for a place in the UEFA Europa Conference League this season under Malky Mackay.

The snow-dusted pitch made for sub-optimal conditions, although Max Haygarth can have no excuse for his horrific challenge on County’s Gavin Whyte that saw him headed for the changing rooms after just 18 minutes.

From then on, the hosts dominated with their man advantage and should have taken the lead in the 30th minute when Jack Moylan fired wide after a superb run and cutback from Zach Awe.

With the game goalless at the break, we were up against it, but the only noteworthy moment of the second half was a shot from Jack Moylan which clipped the crossbar as it went over.

Outshot 21 shots to two with ten men for nearly 70 minutes, we got away with it, and now we’re missing a key squad player for three games.

Very lucky to escape with a point after the early red card.

After a battling performance midweek in the Highlands, we were back in Maryhill for a Sunday lunchtime tussle on the telly with Rangers.

The visitors were on a good run of form domestically, having last lost on the 24th of September when they lost in the League Cup to St. Mirren.

Stuart Bannigan replaced the suspended Max Haygarth. Owen Beck also replaced Harry Milne at left-back in the only changes from the draw at Ross County.

With the rain pouring down in G20, we went at them from the off, forcing a corner after Kwadwo Baah’s mazy run and shot was tipped around the post by Finn Dahmen.

Stuart Bannigan took the corner, which created panic at the back for the visitors, who could not clear their lines. This led to Kwadwo Baah having a shot from inside the penalty area that Finn Dahmen did well to divert over his crossbar for a second consecutive corner kick.

Once again, the visiting defenders were all at sea as Scott Tiffoney floated in a sumptuous cross that Malachi Fagan headed home after seeing off the challenges of multiple Rangers markers.

Sadly, the good mood around Firhill after the goal quickly turned much darker in the 14th minute when Keiran Hamill hobbled off with an injury that could see him miss out on the League Cup Final against St. Mirren.

Rangers had no answer for our obdurate defending in the first 45. The closest they came to equalising before the interval was a Conor Goldson header from a corner that flew well wide of goal.

Any hopes the visitors had of second-half improvement to kick-start any potential comeback, however, were dented ten minutes into the second half when a free-kick from out wide picked out an unmarked Malachi Fagan-Walcott, who headed home his second goal of the afternoon.

Rangers took that second goal as a wake-up call and immediately began putting us under significant and sustained pressure, with Kawabe firing just over the crossbar and a curling strike from the edge of the box from Sam Lammers that struck the post.

Desperately lacking ideas, the best effort that Rangers could muster towards the end was a strike from distance by Zurkowski that flew into the John Lambie Stand behind the goal.

What a performance and what a win! But not without disappointment, as another important player will be missing in the short term.

After handsomely seeing off Rangers to remain in contention for the Scottish Premiership title, we travelled to Florence knowing that a win at the Stadio Artemio Franchi would ensure direct passage to the Round of 16 of the Europa Conference League.

With Keiran Hamill injured, it was Max Haygarth’s turn to lead the line as we chased history against the Italian giants in the only change to the side from the one that defeated Rangers.

The first half was a total non-event, the closest either side came to looking like scoring was a header from a tight angle by Teddy Jenks after an Owen Beck free-kick towards the far post.

Fiorentina came out all guns blazing in the second half, but the game turned in the 52nd minute.

Jack McMillan launched the ball hopefully up the park, where it found Max Haygarth running through before the summer arrival from Linfield rifled home to give us a shock lead.

Enter VAR, who judged Max to be marginally offside when the ball was played through, and as such, our dreams were crushed.

After that, the game completely fell apart for us.

Two goals in a minute from Ruben Sottil and Igor had us on the ropes before Josip Brekalo delivered the coup de grace in the 90th minute.

An absolute sickener.

After our chastening loss in Florence, we returned to domestic matters with a trip to Easter Road to take on Hibs, whose manager Luigi Di Biagio’s jacket was, to use a Scottish phrase, on a shoogly peg (meaning his employment position was precarious).

Despite a win against Aberdeen on December 3rd, the Hibees form had been wretched and hadn’t won a game before that since the 29th of October against St. Mirren.

The home side dominated the first half and looked like they had given their embattled manager some respite in the fifth minute when Elias Hoff Melkersen side-footed Hibs into the lead, only for VAR to intervene and deny the Norwegian (yet) another goal against us.

Moments later they had another good chance to take the lead when Kyle Magennis headed just over the crossbar from a Luca Connell corner.

Just as Hibs were faster out of the traps in the first half, we were in the ascendency early on in the second half, culminating in the game’s opening goal when Mikey Johnston’s deep cross found the head of Kwadwo Baah. But he found Oliveira in the Hibs goal equal to his effort.

That was until the slick ball squirmed out of his gloves and back to Kwadwo, and he coolly slotted into an unguarded net.

Try as they might, Hibs could not find an equaliser and we warmed up for our Europa Conference League decider with Anderlecht with a scrappy win.

After five differently challenging games, our Europa Conference League odyssey concluded at Firhill in the rain against the Belgian heavyweights Anderlecht.

The remit was simple, win and you’re in the Round of 16 or a playoff would await should we not.

Keiran Hamill was back in full training but was not risked, with the gamble being I’d rather him be fit for the League Cup Final rather than this.

We began brightly, getting up the park and well inside their half from the off, the early pressure paying off when Sardella gave away a penalty for chopping Kwadwo Baah down in the box after Jack McMillan’s pass inside had picked him out.

Verbruggen in the Anderlecht goal guessed correctly but was beaten all the same by Scott Tiffoney’s emphatic spot-kick.

Just two minutes later, with Anderlecht licking their wounds, we pounced again and doubled our lead through Mikey Johnston.

Greg Kiltie’s stunning reverse pass on the break caught Anderlecht napping and Johnston cut inside from the left and drilled the ball beyond Verbruggen. Thistle in dreamland.

After two goals in the first 12 minutes, it took until the last 20 minutes for the game to come back to any semblance of life – but boy would it.

First, Anderlecht got themselves together and grabbed a deserved goal through a slick move from back to front that was finished off by Yari Verschaeren.

Then it all got a bit silly.

Sensing a possible equaliser, Anderlecht committed men forward and found themselves on the receiving end of a devastating counter-attack as Toby Tarrant’s hoof clear found Greg Kiltie just inside the Anderlecht half. The former Killie man passed wide to Mikey Johnston, who took it inside before playing a cross-field ball to Kwadwo Baah and his daisy cutter of a cross was tapped in by Scott Tiffoney for his second of the game.

Still unrelenting, Anderlecht took the game to us once again and we pounced on an attempt to play out from the back to score again. Teddy Jenks intercepted a pass intended for Yari Verschaeren and fed it to Scott Tiffoney who squared it for Max Haygarth to get in on the act.

We were far from done, in the 80th minute Greg Kiltie prodded the ball into space for Kwadwo Baah to run onto and fire home a sensational fifth goal before eventually settling for six when Baah added a second with a scintillating solo goal.

Astonishingly, we are through to the Round of 16 of the Europa Conference League.

Hopefully, we will get a better tie than Man United, like we did last year in the Europa League.

Straight through to the Round of 16 in style.

Our penultimate league match of 2025 was a trip to Almondvale to face a Livi side whose recent run of three successive wins had catapulted them into contention for a place in the Europa Conference League.

Despite that good form, we started the better and almost had the lead inside the first couple of minutes when Shamal George had to be at his best to tip a Scott Tiffoney effort around his far post for a corner that was initially poorly dealt with by the Livi defence but Greg Kiltie’s attempted cross sailed into George’s grateful arms and the danger was cleared.

The majority of the first half was dominated by us and we were unlucky not to score a second time when Tiffoney burst into a dangerous area and, once again, George had to be at his best to keep him out.

Livi’s best chance of the entire game came in the 62nd minute when a low, whipped corner from former Jag James Penrice was headed towards goal by Jack Fitzwater but Daniel Rose was on hand to deny the big defender.

It would prove to be a costly miss, as moments later Keiran Hamill marked his return to league action with the goal we had been threatening to score all game.

Jack McMillan’s persistence paid off and he won the ball high up the park and, after a one-two with Teddy Jenks, played the ball down the line for Scott Tiffoney whose deep cross was headed back across Shamal George’s goal by Hamill to break the deadlock.

Livi pushed hard for an equaliser, and they nearly got one in the 82nd minute when Josh Kayode’s turn and shot cannoned back off the crossbar.

A deserved win in the end with our main man back in the team for the league games.

Hogmanay and our final game of 2025 brought a trip to Motherwell knowing a win would ensure we ended the year on top of the league and have a game in hand.

The home side had won two games since the beginning of October and it showed as a first-half blitz had us cruising towards top spot and dreaming of Champagne wishes and Caviar dreams.

Scott Tiffoney opened the scoring in the 28th minute when he headed home an Owen Beck cross that left the Motherwell defence flat-footed.

Three minutes later a tidy finish from Keiran Hamill doubled our lead before a thumping strike from the edge of the box by Teddy Jenks made it three.

The majority of the people left in Fir Park were wearing Red and Yellow by the 84th minute, and they were treated to a lovely fourth goal as Greg Kiltie raced through and fired past Liam Kelly.

The Jags are looking up, but the January transfer window will be huge for Derek McInnes’ Motherwell side.

A glorious December that brought us great success domestically and in Europe, means that the cinch Premiership looks like this going into a World Cup year*.

*A World Cuo that Scotland (again) will not be going to, sadly.

Posted on June 12, 2024 by Marc Wallace 0

The Baku Beyond – November 2025

I’ve had most of this written for ages, but owing to my own mental health and also playoff nerves, I’ve had to keep coming back to it. – Marc

A pivotal month began with a trip to Kirkcaldy to face Raith Rovers.

The euphoria of that playoff triumph over Kilmarnock has faded for Raith, who have picked up just two points all season and scored as many goals in their 11 Premiership matches.

Nevertheless, I was not taking our first meeting with Raith in the top tier since 1996 lightly and intended to go out there and blow them away.

Bez Lubala dropped to the bench for this one, replaced in the XI by Kwadwo Baah, while Stuart Bannigan replaced the injured Victor Wanyama.

Despite their wretched league form, the hosts started brightly, when a great save from Daniel Rose denied a Ross Matthews header from a Lewis Gordon cross.

When you’re struggling, quite often you are punished for not taking your chances, and that was the case for Raith in the 19th minute when some tidy work on the left between Owen Beck, Stuart Bannigan and Kwadwo Baah created havoc for Raith. Baah’s route to goal was blocked, but Greg Kiltie picked it up and laid it off for Teddy Jenks to lash beyond Ripley from 20 yards.

Conceding so soon after a promising start knocked the stuffing out of the home side, and as the interval approached, they went further behind. Malachi Fagan-Walcott’s long ball forward caught out Raith’s Lewis Gordon and he was dispossessed by Teddy Jenks, who teed up Scott Tiffoney and he crossed from Kwadwo Baah to head past Ripley.

Rovers found a way back into the game in spectacular fashion, Lewis Gordon’s corner was initially cleared right back at him, and he took it upon himself to cut inside and rifle the ball past Daniel Rose.

But despite that stunning goal, Raith could not push on to grab an equaliser and ultimately we eased to three points.

Fresh off of our triumph in Kirkcaldy, it was off to significantly colder climes as we travelled to Finland for European duty against Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho or SJK for short.

Our opponents are from the modest city of Seinajoki and they are the result of a merger of two unremarkable local sides and have risen to become one of the better domestic sides in the land that gave us Antti Niemi and Jukka Santala.

Owing to facilities, the game will not be played at SJK’s home stadium, called the OmaSP Stadion, but the Tammelan Stadion in Tampere, some two and half hours away.

For some reason, we are not playing here…

Incidentally, Tampere is where the company that grew to take over the world as Nokia was founded, the ringtone is in your head now, isn’t it?

Any suggestion that we might freeze in the sub-zero temperatures, however, would be put to bed with a strong start that culminated in Scott Tiffoney opening the scoring with a thumping strike from the edge of the box in the 25th minute.

Still so vital to the team, even as we climb to newer and greater heights, Tiff continues to hold down a place on the right wing.

He came close to adding a second in the 34th minute, getting his head to a lofted pass from Kwadwo Baah inside the area, but the effort clipped the top of the crossbar and went out for a goal kick.

But Tiff would be on target again soon enough – although how much he knew about it will be up for debate. A surging run down the left by Kwadwo Baah led to what at first looked like a bad pass that was picked up by Jack McMillan, who cut inside and fired towards goal – unfortunately for Jack – his effort clipped Tiff and went beyond the SJK goalie.

They all count, but one for Jack McMillan to feel a bit miffed by.

Similar to the Raith game, SJK offered little but did make it a nervy last few minutes when their only shot on target found a way past Daniel Rose.

Back on track after the Valencia heartbreaker, another fair stomp of an away trip awaits in our next game in Europe as we travel to Azerbaijan to face Qarabag in a grudge match.

At least we’re winning these games, but loads of inaccurate shooting again.

With vital wins in succession secured on the road, it was back to Firhill for the first time this month to face Dundee United in the reverse fixture from the opening day of the season.

Dougie Imrie’s United side have had a marginally better time back in the top flight than Raith Rovers, but have only recorded two wins all season, one of those being a 4-0 win over the hapless Rovers.

Nevertheless, United arrived in Maryhill hoping to win their first game since they beat Aberdeen on October 24th, not that long a run, but their sole other win was on September 13th.

We were the fastest out of the blocks, Kwadwo Baah forcing a corner that ultimately came to nothing after stinging the palms of Bailey Peacock-Farrell from distance.

Greg Kiltie was next to try his luck from range, but his effort went just wide of Peacock-Farrell’s post.

This was a game with plenty of controversy, and not the first one between United and ourselves over the years, and in the 38th minute it looked like we had taken the lead through Scott Tiffoney, only for John Beaton to overturn the decision after consultation with VAR.

But United’s reprieve would last all of a minute as we took the lead thanks to a superb strike from Greg Kiltie.

Latching onto a superb ball inside from Owen Beck, Greg took the ball on a mazy before smashing past Peacock-Farrell from just inside the box.

Early on in the second half, it was United’s turn to feel the wrath of John Beaton and his computer screen when Josh Ginnelly’s strike from the edge of the box was disallowed.
The United players and manager Dougie Imrie raged as to how their number nine’s effort had to be disallowed for a fractional offside.

I mean, judge for yourself.

As the weather turned from cold Sun to November rain, it was us who found Paradise City in the form of a second goal as the game ticked into the final ten minutes.

Owen Beck’s corner was cleared by Miller Thomson, but Mikey Johnston was able to get a toe on it, leading to the ball zipping across the wet surface into the path of Keiran Hamill and the prodigy swept home from 12 yards on the turn.

United, like SJK midweek, would grab a late consolation, but it arrived too late to cause any apparent panic and we can prepare for the League Cup semi-final after the break off the back of three straight wins.

November means the business end of qualification for the Euros and the World Cup, and Scotland were right in the mix for qualification to the 2026 World Cup. A win over Hungary would set up a showdown with The Netherlands in the final matchday at Hampden in a winner-takes-all clash.

The visitors dominated from kick-off in Debrecen and were rewarded with a goal in the 33rd minute from emerging talent Dylan Munro.

The 18-year-old Strasbourg prodigy continued his fast-track to stardom with the opening goal in a vital game.

Jacob Brown added a second from the spot to add further gloss to a sensational display for Steve Clarke’s side, the home side incapable of a single attempt on goal.

A stylish dink over the Hungary ‘keeper from Munro for his second of the night and his third Scotland goal in five caps ensured it would indeed be winner-take-all all at Hampden against Holland.

There truly is something special about Hampden under the lights when the chips are down, especially now that the national team have shown so-called glorious failure and laps of disgrace the door.

The task against Holland was a tall one. But it was one they were ready for, and this glorious old ground has seen Scotland topple bigger national sides than the Dutch before.

But could they do it one more time and stamp their ticket to North America and a first World Cup since France ’98?

Predictably, the Dutch were well on top, Scotland being reduced to the odd attempt on the counter-attack.

The game was goalless at the interval, but to call it finely balanced would be dishonest. The Dutch were dominant.

In the reverse fixture between the sides, the Dutch side’s expertise was the difference, and it would prove so again in the 69th minute as a corner wreaked havoc in the Scotland box and Jurgen Ekkelenkamp fired home.

The visitors sealed their passage to the World Cup as a result of a catastrophic mix-up at the back between Kieran Tierney and Liam Cooper, the Leeds United man bundling the ball over his own goalline.

A taste of the old Glorious Failure? Perhaps. But Scotland had no answer for the Dutch team’s quality in either game of this campaign and that was what let them down.

After quite possibly the worst-timed international break in history, we returned to action in the biggest game domestically since the 2023 final in the same competition when we stunned Celtic to lift the trophy for the first time since 1971.

Standing in the way of us securing a third League Cup were Hibs, who we have traded wins and losses with since our promotion to the top flight and St. Mirren, who defeated Livingston in the other semi-final 24 hours before.

The task was seemingly easier than in 2023, which made it all the more daunting.

Preparation for this was thrown into disarray when Greg Kiltie suffered a knock in training, meaning that Max Haygarth came into the side in the Number Ten role, with Greg being fit enough for a place on the bench.

Thankfully, that was the only change needed, with everyone else avoiding a mischief in the two-week break.

We began strongly, putting Hibs on the back foot from the first whistle despite insisting we be a little cautious given the magnitude of the situation at hand.

But barely four minutes into the game, the tension would be broken.

Jack McMillan’s quickly-taken throw went to Scott Tiffoney and he hit the byline, sizing up Liam Scales, who was able to stop him, but in tackling him, the ball fell to Teddy Jenks and his piledriver was parried by Oliveira into the path of Keiran Hamill and the teenager made no mistake.

We then suffered an unfortunate blow in the 12th minute when Owen Beck had to come off with a nasty injury and was replaced by Harry Milne.

Hibs’ defence was all at sea in the Hampden rain, and they only had themselves to blame when they capitulated once again as Kaide Gordon was caught dallying on the ball by Max Haygarth and the ball dropped for Keiran Hamill to sweep home a second goal for the Jags.

If that had been from bad to worse, then moments later, it was a full-blown catastrophe when Keiran Hamill chased down a dallying Liam Scales before feeding the ball out wide for Scott Tiffoney to cross for Kwadwo Baah to make it 3-0 with a lovely glancing header.

Was it over? Not to me, I remember that Falkirk game.

And sure enough, eight minutes into the second half, the Hibees got themselves back into it when Kaide Gordon atoned for his mistake for our first goal with a sensational strike into the top corner from 25 yards.

Could they now rise from the ashes and repeat their heroics from the Falkirk semi-final in 2013?

Eight minutes after that stunner that gave the travelling Hibees a little boost, we restored our three-goal lead when Malachi Fagan-Walcott found space between two Hibs defenders and powered a header home to set up a pre-Christmas showdown with St. Mirren in the 2025/26 Scottish League Cup Final.

Hibees Hampden Horror. The other, other Triple H.

From Hampden on Sunday to the former Soviet Union on Thursday, the big games were coming thick and fast as we travelled to Baku to take on Qarabag in a grudge match from last season’s crucial Europa League clash that we won 5-0 to secure a playoff place through the League Phase.

Less than 3,000 fans – including 71 hardy Jags – filled the Baku Olympic Stadium, the venue for the 2019 Europa League Final between Chelsea and Arsenal (above)

The home side dominated for most of the first 45, coming close after three minutes when Mark Jankovic fired just over the bar.

Yassine Benzia was next to come close for the hosts, his shot on the turn just whistled wide after an attempted square pass took a nick off Jack McMillan to set up the Algerian.

After riding the storm in the early going and having our best spell of the game, we fell behind when a strike from inside the box from Jankovic took a nick off Harry Milne and diverted the ball past Daniel Rose.

But the misery of the brave travelling Jags support would be short-lived, as an inch-perfect Jack McMillan pass down the line found Teddy Jenks out wide and he cut it back for Keiran Hamill to rifle home an equaliser very much against the run of play.

Fired up from our equaliser, Qarabag began the second half as they had the first, with intensity and putting us under severe pressure, going incredibly close to a spectacular second goal when Qara Qarayev struck the bar from 25 yards.

Ten minutes into the second half, we turned the game on its head when Kwadwo Baah raced down the left flank and squared the ball to Keiran Hamill to slot home and make it 2-1 Thistle.

The youngster has been in sensational form since moving from Airdrie for £100,000, which felt like a massive financial risk, but he has more than repaid it with his performances so far this season.

Qarabag would be denied by the woodwork for a second time in their pursuit of a leveller. Still, the day would ultimately belong to us and our young players as Ramez Hefzalla marked a rare outing off the bench by sealing a stunning win in stoppage time.

Sending the goalie up in desperation for a last-gasp corner, we countered and Ramez ran clean through before dinking the ball into an empty net to cap off a memorable night in Baku.

November concluded with a dress rehearsal (of sorts) for the upcoming League Cup Final as we welcomed St. Mirren to Firhill looking to finish the month second in the table (at least).

Victor Wanyama was fit to take a place on the bench, which was still youthful, except for Stuart Bannigan, Mikey Johnston and Jamie Sneddon.

As we might expect from the League Cup Final, it was a cagey affair that sprang into life with three goals closely spaced apart either side of the interval.

We took the lead in stoppage time at the end of the first half when Malachi Fagan-Walcott knocked the ball down from Scott Tiffoney’s corner for Kwadwo Baah to blast home through a crowded penalty area.

And we made it two just two minutes into the second half when Kwadwo Baah turned provider, racing down the left before crossing to Teddy Jenks, who took a couple of touches before smashing the ball beyond Ahamada from 25 yards.

The visitors are having a decent season in the league, and they showed they were far from out of it in the 55th minute when they pulled a goal back through Eamonn Brophy.

But we would restore our two-goal cushion in added time at the end of the game when Toby Tarrant’s long ball over the top found Keiran Hamill and he rolled the ball home after cheating it down to secure a big win ahead of the even bigger meeting next month.

Bodes well for the League Cup Final…or does it?

A perfect month leaves the cinch Premiership looking like this going into an extremely busy December.

Until next time, folks!

Marc

Posted on May 15, 2024 by Marc Wallace 0

A View To A Kiltie – October 2025

Hello once again and welcome to another update of Wallace ‘Til I Die!

We’re into October now and we have an entire month spent within Glasgow, with our only away game this month being against Celtic.

Hope you enjoy it because we’ve got our first steps in the Europa Conference League and a very eventful game against Livingston at home in the Premiership!

Happy reading, folks!

Our first game in October brought another first, as we made our debut in the UEFA Europa Conference League after our defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in the playoff round of the Europa League.

Croatian side Hajduk Split were our opponents at Firhill, our first meeting with Croatian opposition since the 1995 Intertoto Cup group stage, when we faced NK Zagreb and lost 2-1.

Hajduk started as the pre-match favourites, but we have a knack for turning it on under the lights in these European games. As such we were cautiously optimistic, or should that be optimistically cautious?

Regardless, we got off to a dream start when Greg Kiltie’s out-swinging corner was powered beyond Lovre Kalinic in the Hajduk goal by the head of Malachi Fagan-Walcott. The Englishman has been attracting serious interest from clubs in his homeland but hasn’t expressed an outward desire to leave, which is music to our ears as it means he can keep producing moments like that.

The hosts thought they had passed up an excellent opportunity in the 18th minute but Zeravica had strayed just offside in the buildup, meaning there was no corner for them from Daniel Rose’s excellent save.

It was then our turn to go perilously close to scoring, good work down the Hajduk right by Owen Beck saw the ball eventually filtered inside to Victor Wanyama and then Teddy Jenks, whose low drive from 20 yards struck the foot of both posts before being hacked clear.

The visitors then had their best spell of the first half, forcing two corners after strikes from Zeravica and Grgic, but Daniel Rose and his defence were more than capable at keeping the Croatians at bay.

Hajduk’s failure to capitalise when on top would prove fatal, as we strengthened our grip on the game in the 40th minute when Jack McMillan was cynically tripped inside the penalty area by Zeravica.

It was telling that there were no complaints from the Hajduk players.

Fortunately for us, Teddy Jenks made no mistake from the spot, emphatically sending Kalinic the wrong way and sending us into the break with a 2-0 lead.
With 20 minutes to go, we put the seal on an emphatic victory when Victor Wanyama teed up Teddy Jenks and his powerful shot from the edge of the box was too hot for Kalinic and found its way into the net.

A dream start to our new European campaign.

After the high of the result against Hajduk, we were back at Firhill three days later to face a Livingston side who were defying expectations by keeping far away from the bottom two places at this stage of the season.

Perhaps getting overly confident, but wanting to keep a bit of routine, I fielded an unchanged side against The Lions, and it looked to pay off after just seven minutes when Mikey Johnston scored his first goal in red and yellow.

Stephane Omeonga’s clearance was poor and went straight to Owen Beck, who surged down the left flank and zipped the ball across for Mikey to tap home from the edge of the box.

Despite conceding early, Livi were never out of the game, with Mamadi Camara being our tormentor in chief, going incredibly close in the 29th minute to equalising when Matt Penney’s cross was deflected into his path and he shot just over the bar.

With the interval approaching, the Livi pressure paid dividends and they found an equaliser when Camara’s corner was glanced in at Daniel Rose’s near-post by Robbie Deas.

It was a moment, both in the quality of the goal and the timing that can have disastrous consequences, something that I made clear at the interval despite some concerned voices.

Ten minutes into the second half it looked like the players had understood the assignment, as we retook the lead through a headed goal from Kieran Hamill.

Jack McMillan’s surging run was key, he charged into space before sending it out wide for Chris East, whose floated cross landed right on Kieran’s head and back across the goal and out of reach of Shamal George.

But that joy would be short-lived as our weakness from set-pieces was exposed for a second time and the visitors found another equaliser when Matt Penney’s corner was flicked on by Corrie Ndaba and then powered beyond Rose by Morgan Boyes.

The visitors then missed a glorious chance to take the lead when Joel Nouble burst down our right flank and passed inside for Stephane Omeonga, who cut the ball back for Matt Penney but the Englishman’s strike crashed against the crossbar and went over.

It would prove to be a costly miss for the visitors as moments later we retook the lead through Chris East.

Owen Beck initially won the ball before playing a quick one-two with Kieran Hamill and East before Teddy Jenks sliced through the Livi defence with a devastating through-ball for Chris to run onto and fire home from the edge of the box.

And the victory was sealed in the final ten minutes when Kieran Hamill added his second of the afternoon, a fine effort into the bottom corner from inside the box after great work from Greg Kiltie.

A game that very nearly got away from us, but we were able to get there in the end.

Another day that goes against us, bullet dodged.

After the unnecessarily topsy-turvy nature of the Livingston game, we returned after the international break to face a Motherwell side in the lower reaches of the table, but not even close to being bottom given how terrible Raith’s season has been so far.

Stuart Bannigan returned to the side for this one, replacing Victor Wanyama, who has been picking up more knocks than decent performances thus far.

Also coming in for this one was Kwadwo Baah, who replaced Mikey Johnston on the left wing.

But of all our attacking players, today would belong to Greg Kiltie in particular.

It didn’t start well, however, as Motherwell began the game brighter and were awarded an early penalty after VAR intervened on Toby Tarrant’s apparent trip on Jack Aitchison as the latter raced to pick up a Dexter Lembikisa pass.

Michael Rose stepped up and fired past Daniel Rose, who guessed right but was beaten by the pace and power.

Motherwell could have had a grandiose second goal in the 27th minute when Ricki Lamie’s attempted overhead kick was ultimately saved comfortably by Daniel Rose.

Having been distinctly second best throughout the first half so far, it was going to take something of real quality to get us going – and it arrived in the 44th minute when a patiently worked move involving Malachi Fagan-Walcott, Teddy Jenks and Scott Tiffoney set up Greg Kiltie for a superb equaliser.

It was a terrific first-time finish from a superb player that I was delighted to keep around after a productive loan spell.

Into the second half and he was at it again, just ten minutes after the restart and Greg had turned the scoreline around when Teddy Jenks reverse pass found Kieran Hamill, and when his shot was initially blocked, the rebound fell to Kiltie to fire home his second of the game.

A virtuoso performance from the former Killie and Morton man was complete when Kwadwo Baah unselfishly squared to Kiltie to complete his hat-trick after excellent work down the left from Owen Beck.

It was the perfect way to warm up for the biggest games of our season at Firhill against La Liga giants Valencia and away to Celtic.

As mentioned ahead of the Motherwell game, the middle of October brought a brief international break that saw Scotland play two matches. One was a Friendly against Qatar, which Scotland won 4-1 with goals from Scott McKenna, Kieran Tierney, Ryan Christie and Ethan Erhahon.

The other was a crucial World Cup qualifier away to Kazakhstan, the scene of national humiliation under Alex McLeish back in March 2019.

It was nothing short of mortifying in March 2019 when Kazakhstan battered Scotland 3-0.

A repeat performance would almost certainly end any hopes of qualification for the expanded showpiece held across North America next summer.

Hopes were raised when key Kazakhstan player Baurzhan Islamkhan was forced off with an injury after 12 minutes, but Scotland just couldn’t find a way beyond the obdurate home defence.

They huffed and puffed, eventually finding a way through in the 76th minute when Ryan Christie swept home a Nathan Patterson cutback.

One goal was ultimately enough, and it sets up a possible grandstand finish if both Scotland and Holland win their games next month, with the two meeting at Hampden in the final matchday.

Sets up two huge games next month against Hungary and Holland

Our latest Europa Conference League match brought up a quirk that goes all the way back to the foundation of Partick Thistle in 1876.

Back then, the newly-formed Thistle side, in the shadow of Partick F.C. – from whom Thistle eventually would take the Red and Yellow colour scheme – played its first game against a side named…Valencia.

Sadly, there is no link beyond the name to the multiple-time Spanish champions, Champions League runners-up, Copa del Rey winners and the local Junior side that Thistle beat 1-0 on February 19th 1876.

I approach our European games one of two ways – more cautious to balanced against certain sides, such as Hajduk Split and Slovan Bratislava, but always rigidly defensive against the biggest sides like Sporting last season and Manchester United.

We adopted the latter approach for the visit of Los Ches to Maryhill. A move not unexpected given the absence of top-scorer Keiran Hamill due to injury, meaning a rare start for summer recruit from Linfield Max Haygarth.

The only decent chance from a low-key first 45 went to the visitors when Antonio Reguera burst into our box and left himself too tight an angle to shoot, forcing a save from Daniel Rose that led to a corner which was cleared with little fuss by our defence.

Astonishingly, we had the first decent chance of the second half when Greg Kiltie picked the pocket of a Valencia defender before forcing a smart save out of Jaume Domenech.

Stuart Bannigan’s corner posed no threat to the Spaniards and Domenech was able to come through a crowd of bodies and claim the ball with ease.

Failure to capitalise on that opportunity would prove costly eight minutes later when the visitors took the lead. Jose Gaya’s free-kick from out wide was emphatically headed home at the back post by Facundo Gonzalez and we had it all to do.

We did have a couple of chances, the first coming when Max Haygarth forced a save from Domenech, but had strayed offside in the buildup and then when Scott Tiffoney’s header went just over the bar from an Owen Beck cross.

It seemed like we were destined to just come up short, but this is Marc Wallace’s Partick Thistle in Europe, and sometimes mad shit just happens when you least expect it.

In the 78th minute, Stuart Bannigan cut out an attempted diagonal from the visitors and sent the ball down the left flank for Kwadwo Baah. The young German then crossed, finding Greg Kiltie, who cut it back for Teddy Jenks and he swept it into the path for Scott Tiffoney to fire home.

Valencia were stunned and they shelled and shelled looking for a winner that didn’t look like coming, that was until the seventh minute of added time at the end of the game.

Hugo was the architect, able to slip the ball to Almeida, who was able to hold off Drew Whittaker and roll the ball beyond Daniel Rose and break Red and Yellow hearts.

If I was ever on Family Fortunes/Family Feud and the question was “Who would you least like to play in the Scottish Premiership immediately after a heartbreaking defeat?”

The top answer, without question, would be Celtic, and that was just our luck as we faced the defending champions, who replaced Aston Villa-bound Ange Postecoglou in the summer with Mauricio Pochettino.

It hasn’t been smooth sailing for Poch in Glasgow, they drew their first three games of the season as they adapted to his style of football, but they have been off to the races since then and sit atop the table coming into this one.

To get a good result when playing away to the Old Firm, as we managed last season, winning at both Celtic Park and Ibrox, you need a good first 20 minutes.

That was not the case here as the home side raced into a 2-0 lead by the 20th minute through goals from Ruslan Malinovskyi and Kyogo.

Kyogo made it 3-0 nine minutes before the interval and despite pulling a goal back in the 64th minute through Kwadwo Baah, we always looked like conceding – and we did in the 82nd minute as Miguel Almiron completed the rout.

After two damaging defeats at home and “abroad” back to back, we need a response against Hearts at Firhill in our final game this month.

Back to getting battered like fuck off Celtic.

After two horrific results (albeit with two okay performances) we faced Hearts at Firhill, who boast the league’s meanest defence under Jon Dahl Tomasson and are looking to challenge for third place after a drastic underachievement last season when they ended up in the bottom six.

Thankfully, Keiran Hamill was back fit for this one, also coming in was Bez Lubala in the place of Kwadwo Baah, purely because Bez plays a specific role that works well against Hearts.

Victor Wanyama also returned to the XI for this game, replacing Stuart Bannigan after the former recovered from his latest knock.

Disaster struck after just five minutes when Victor went down clutching his foot after a clash with Nathaniel Atkinson and required stretchering off and replaced by Stuart Bannigan.

An all-around bad start to the game was compacted moments later when Jack McMillan appeared to bring down Barrie Mckay as he drove into the Thistle box.

Much like the Motherwell penalty decision, it was nip and tuck, but the referee saw enough contact to give it. Lawrence Shankland stepped up, and like Michael Rose’s penalty for The Steelmen, Daniel Rose guessed correctly but was beaten by pace.

Hearts joy, however, would be short-lived as Lynden Gooch’s pass inside was intercepted by Greg Kiltie and he charged through the middle of the park, taking out both Beukema and Murphy with a salacious side-step and firing into the bottom right corner to immediately equalise.

Hearts remained a threat throughout the first 45 but found themselves reduced to shots from range such as one from Fin Azaz that cleared the City End Bing after a big punt forward from Zander Clark in the Hearts’ goal.

We started the brighter in the second half and punished Hearts for their complacency by turning the scoreline around in the 50th minute when Greg Kiltie grabbed his second goal of the afternoon.

Throughout this month, Greg has taken his importance to this club to new levels with his contributions, this was a fine goal, cutting inside after receiving the ball from Bez Lubala and rifling into the top corner past Zander Clark.

Five minutes later, we extended our lead further when Keiran Hamill marked his return to the team after injury with a proper poacher’s effort.

The teenager, who cost £100,000 from Airdrieonians in the summer showed his instincts on the edge of the six-yard box when he flicked Teddy Jenks’ knuckleball cross beyond Zander Clark to get us back on track in the league after two bad defeats.

That concludes another month of Wallace ‘Til I Die.

There will be a league table update at the end of the next blog post covering November, which I hope to get out quickly after this one.

As ever, your feedback would mean a lot, I don’t do Twitch and I don’t have that big a social media following, I am just doing this for fun at the end of the day, but it would be nice to hear from someone, anyone about the blog.

Until next time,

Marc

Posted on May 9, 2024 by Marc Wallace 0

Perhaps They’ll Listen Now – September 2025

So…August went a little bit better than expected and we found ourselves atop of (admittedly, an embryonic) Scottish Premiership table.

Some important games are coming up, including a League Cup quarter-final and a trip to Ibrox.

But before we can get into that, there’s one more bit of summer transfer business to take care of before we catch up with the Scotland National Team and their bid to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

With the transfer window closing, we made our final signing of the summer window, adding winger Kwadwo Baah on a loan deal until the end of the season.

A winger comfortable on either flank, Kwadwo will provide competition for Scott Tiffoney, Chris East, Mikey Johnston and possibly even Greg Kiltie in the #10 role.

He only made one appearance last season at Watford, having spent the 23/24 season on loan at German side Saabrucken, where he scored four and assisted one in 26 appearances.

Scotland had made a positive start to their World Cup qualifying campaign and looked to build on that when they faced Hungary at Hampden Park.

Ché Adams put Scotland in front after 30 minutes and it seemed like a third consecutive win was on the cards for Steve Clarke’s side. But back came the Magyars and they turned the game on its head with two goals in eight minutes in the second half.

The first came through an own goal by Scott McKenna before Dániel Sallói completed the turnaround.

With Hampden looking for a hero, they got one in the 86th minute when Rangers youngster Jordan Ross netted with four minutes left, capping a remarkable year for the Ross, who was named in the Euro 2024 squad aged 17.

After the disappointment of only drawing against Hungary after dominating the game, attention turned to the hardest game of the campaign, as Scotland headed to Amsterdam to face The Netherlands.

Predictably, Scotland were dominated by the technically superior Dutch. But the hosts couldn’t find a breakthrough until the final quarter of an hour when Sven Botman headed home from a corner.

Registering only three shots on goal and none on target, there was no realistic way back for Scotland and they fell to their first defeat of the qualification campaign and put their hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup into doubt, with only the group winners advancing automatically to the finals.

Coming away having lost “only” 1-0 will feel big.

Group E	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF-GA	Points
Netherlands	4	4	0	0	9-3	12
SCOTLAND	5	3	1	1	10-4	10
Hungary	5	2	1	2	8-9	7
Kazakhstan	5	2	0	3	5-9	6
N. Ireland	5	0	0	5	3-10	0

Next Fixtures (9&13/10): HUN v NED, NIR v KAZ; NED v NIR, KAZ v SCO

With the international break now in the past, we returned to Premiership action as we looked to remain top of the league with victory in our next match.

That would prove extremely difficult as we were taking on Rangers at Ibrox.

Both Celtic and Rangers have had stuttering starts to the season, but if we were to secure a repeat of our final day victory in Govan from last season, our first there since 1981 we were going to have to be perfect.

As expected, the home side started stronger, Ridvan Yilmaz rampaged down the left for the home side and teed up Ianis Hagi, but his strike flew just over the bar.

It was then our turn to go close, a Scott Tiffoney free-kick out wide caused problems in the penalty area for the area and Malachi Fagan-Walcott’s header landed on the roof of the net.

We were forced into a change late in the first half when Drew Whittaker, our summer signing from Ayr United had to be stretchered off with a nasty-looking injury and could be out for several weeks.

Despite that setback, we went into the break level. We started the second half well, culminating in us taking the lead as Keiran Hamill continues to go from strength to strength since joining from Airdrie in League One in the summer.

Scott Tiffoney’s run down the right went unchecked by the Rangers defence and whipped a low cross into the box and Hamill was able to steal ahead of Connor Goldson and Ben Davies and sweep the ball beyond Finn Dahmen.

But our joy would be short-lived, as the home side found a near-immediate equaliser when Ianis Hagi curled home from 20 yards after a well-worked passing move.

It was very much a case of being at your weakest right after you’ve scored, and it was disappointing as we were now well and truly up against it.

The Rangers pressure felt never-ending, but their lack of a cutting edge was evident when Sam Lammers fired wide with only Daniel Rose to beat.
But the home side’s persistence would eventually pay off in the 87th minute when Dabney De Los Santos’ rampaged through the middle and slipped in Nathan Tella to fire home the winner for the home side.

Knocked off top, but we were never out to play sexy football, it was all about containment and it could have worked on another day.

Drew Whittaker’s injury is more painful than the loss, in all honesty.

After the chastening defeat at Ibrox that clipped our title-chasing wings, we were keen to get back to winning ways, although that was a difficult prospect as we faced Hibs at Firhill.

Unfortunately for us, our Public Enemy Number One, Elias Hoff Melkersen is still at Hibs – making the task all the more daunting.

We dominated the early stages of the first half without actually threatening that much, the closest we came to scoring was a Malachi Fagan-Walcott shot from the edge of the area that whistled just over the crossbar.

From that point on, Hibs upped the ante and we were struggling to find a way back into the ascendency and should have been in the lead at the break when Davitashvili’s header back across goal caught our centre halves flat-footed. However, a smart save from Daniel Rose denied Elias Melkersen.

The Hibees’ ascendency continued into the second half, and they would eventually find the breakthrough just past the hour mark when Elias Hoff Melkersen continued his fine scoring run against us, blasting home from inside the penalty area after a Kyle Magennis corner wasn’t properly cleared.

The latter stages of the game saw us pushing hard for an equaliser, we came incredibly close in the 74th minute when Scott Tiffoney’s header was palmed onto the crossbar by Hibs’ Nikita Halkin and then scrambled away to safety.

With a second successive defeat looming, it was time for heroes, and in the 84th minute, Keiran Hamill stepped up, firing home from inside the six-yard box after an excellent cut-back from Teddy Jenks.

But the real MVP was Jack McMillan, it was his marauding down the right flank that opened up the space for Teddy to run into.

But there would still be time for one last bit of drama, as Hibs looked for a winner direct from kick-off, Kaide Gordon went down somewhat dramatically after colliding with Jack McMillan – there was no doubt in Andrew Dallas’ mind and he immediately pointed to the spot.

Fortunately for us, after a review, the decision to award the penalty was overturned.

A draw was probably fair, especially when you look at the stats, but we really need to get back at it for the League Cup Quarter Final against Hearts.

A draw is probably about fair, now you think about it.

After welcoming one half of the Edinburgh Elite to Firhill in the Premiership, it was time to welcome the other as we looked to reach the League Cup Semi Finals for the fourth successive year under my management.

Hearts had a bitterly disappointing season last year, finishing in the bottom six, with results dramatically improving under the stewardship of Jon Dahl Tomasson, making them a serious threat to us and our ambitions this season.

Tomasson’s first full season in charge of the Jam Tarts hasn’t quite gone to plan, drawing in the league against Motherwell and Raith Rovers, but they have also drawn with both halves of the Old Firm, so he’s getting somewhere I suppose.

We dominated the early going and took the lead inside the first 20 minutes when a cross-field ball by Jack McMillan found Greg Kiltie and his deft touch sent Keiran Hamill clean through and he hammered the ball beyond Ross Stewart in the Hearts’ goal.

That goal seemed to invigorate the visitors and they clicked into gear, finding an equaliser in the 37th minute when Brooklyn Lyons-Foster charged into our half and slipped the ball to Lawrence Shankland, who spotted the run of Alan Forrest and the latter fired past Danny Rose.

With the game level at the interval, Hearts came out in the second half looking to make it count, which they almost did when a strike from Wright was deflected behind for a corner that ultimately was cleared by our defence.

Into the final 20 minutes of the game, we missed a glorious chance to retake the lead when an Owen Beck corner was met perfectly by the head of Malachi Fagan-Walcott but flew just over the crossbar.

But salvation for us would come soon after, and from an unlikely source in the form of 18-year-old winger Chris East.

A free transfer from Morton, the right-winger has had to make do with bit-part roles so far, but he came up trumps in this big game when he fired home from inside the penalty area after Harry Milne’s corner was hooked back into a dangerous area for Hearts by Toby Tarrant as they tried to clear their lines.

It was far from a classic, but we held on and booked our place in the semi-finals of the League Cup yet again.

Deservedly through, but there was more to come…

Returning to the semi-finals for the fourth consecutive season under my management was a huge achievement.

But the truly seismic moment came in the other quarter-finals as both Celtic and Rangers fell to shocking defeats to Hibs and Livingston, leaving the League Cup wide open.

Was hoping to avoid Hibs, in all honesty.

[Aberdeen 0-1 Partick Thistle]

Where was this strong performance here when we needed to finish second last season?!

We rounded the month off with a trip to Pittodrie and with revenge on our minds for the defeat here at the back end of last season that ultimately torpedoed our aspirations to play in the UEFA Champions League.

The Dons’ season up until this point has been nothing short of disastrous, having only won one game and on a run of five games without a win that includes an ignominious League Cup exit at the hands of Inverness Caley Thistle.

But they have Bojan Miovski, and when there’s Bojan Miovski, there is a tendency for him to do us damage!

I approached this one cautiously for this exact reason, and as expected the home side were fast out of the traps and dominating the early going – until we hit them with a sucker punch inside the first ten minutes.

Daniel Rose’s big punt up the park was nodded on by Greg Kiltie and Keiran Hamill (who else?!) raced through, rinsing Plechaty for pace and slamming the ball home.

Kiltie then had his own chance to make it 2-0 moments later, but with the goal gaping he managed to put his sidefooted effort wide of the near post.

The home side pressed in vain for an equaliser, but their attempts were in vain, and the final crucial moment in the game was in our favour as Malachi Fagan-Walcott was hauled down in the box at a Scott Tiffoney corner, PENALTY THISTLE.

Usually reliable from the spot, Scott Tiffoney stepped up but on this occasion, he would find himself denied from 12 yards by Aberdeen ‘keeper Adam Davies.

A big win at an unhappy hunting ground, but we really could have put two or three by them, which annoys me with European games coming up.

Despite the loss to Rangers, we are still right in there going into October.

That rounds up another edition of Wallace ‘Til I Die, join me next time when we take our first steps into the Europa Conference League!

Until next time, folks!

Marc

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Marc Wallace 0

Who Wants To Be A Thistle Player? – July/August 2025

Hello and welcome to another new season of Wallace ‘Til I Die!

We’re into the 2025/26 season now, my fourth in charge and the regens are starting to creep into the game now, as you will see when you look at our transfer activity.

Whether you have been reading from day one, or have just come across the blog somewhere online, here is a quick summary of the seasons so far:

We have overachieved just a tiny bit, winning a treble in my first season of the Scottish Championship, Challenge Cup and the League Cup followed by a third place finish the season after that, as well as semi-final appearances in both the Scottish Cup and League Cup.

In our third season (last year) we didn’t reach the semis like we wanted in the Scottish Cup, losing to Celtic in round four, but we did reach the semis in the League Cup where we lost to, you guessed it, Celtic.

But we did finish third for a second consecutive season, pushing Rangers most of the way for second behind runaway champions Celtic and defied all expectations by reaching the Round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League.

This season I have been scouring for young players to come in and make an impact with a view to eventually challenging for more honours down the line, with the odd elite experienced addition, and here are our pre-season signings:

After a pre-season that felt like it lasted years, it was back to work in the Scottish Premiership.

Our opponents were Dundee United, who are back in the top flight after an absence of one season. The faith in Dougie Imrie after relegation in 23/24 was justified as the Terrors won the Championship by ten points from Raith Rovers, who joined them in getting promoted via the playoffs.

New signings Drew Whittaker, Victor Wanyama, Mikey Johnston and Kieran Hamill made their debuts from the start, with fellow summer arrivals Chris East and Max Haygarth on the bench.

Perhaps starting so many new players was a bad idea in hindsight, as the home side looked to show their fans they weren’t about to be dragged into a season of struggle on flag day and after an initial setback, they showed they were no mugs.

After we had the ball in the net early on through Kieran Hamill, United took the game to us and found the opener in the 17th minute when Josh Ginnelly raced unchallenged down our right side and crossed for Glenn Middleton to prod home from inside the six-yard box.

United turned up the heat, looking for a second goal to send us careening into the ropes, but Declan Glass, a Partick Thistle player for a hot minute back in the day, fired well wide after Archie Meekison’s through ball split our defence.

Failure to take that chance would prove costly for the hosts, in the 28th minute Ross Graham’s unconvincing pass to Jason McCarthy was intercepted by debutant Mikey Johnston and after good work down the United left by Scott Tiffoney and Jack McMillan, Victor Wanyama’s piledrive from distance was palmed behind for a corner.

Harry Milne’s in-swinging corner caused havoc in the United box, and after Teddy Jenks’ initial effort was blocked, the ball dropped for Greg Kiltie to fire home the equaliser.
Jenks would go close in the early stages of the second half, but like Declan Glass’ effort for the hosts, it whistled just wide of the target.

As the game wound down, the hosts were hanging on and their dominance in the early part of the first half felt like a distant memory, although the last meaningful action of the game was for United, as a wild strike from McCarthy forced a corner and Ross Graham’s subsequent header sailed harmlessly into the arms of Jamie Sneddon.

A bit disappointing to have not taken all three points, but there were a lot of players making their debuts there and that can happen.

Following the United game, we added yet another new signing in the shape of Tobias “Toby” Tarrant from Middlesbrough.

And arriving in time for our second league game of the season after spending a bit of pre-season on trial was Sam Stubbs.

The son of former Hibs manager, Alan, will provide crucial depth in defence.

After a disappointing draw on the opening day, we returned to Firhill to make amends against newly-promoted Raith Rovers.

The Kirkcaldy outfit, in the Premiership for the first time since the 1996/97 season, had marked their return with a 1-0 defeat against Livingston but had shown themselves to be very capable in the playoffs last season when they handily defeated a Kilmarnock side we struggled to beat in the league.

I began the game with a positive philosophy, hoping to lay down a marker after last week. It paid dividends almost immediately as Kieran Hamill came close in the eighth minute, firing just wide after being played in with an excellent reverse pass from Greg Kiltie.

Moments later, the visitors crumbled under pressure when Scott Tiffoney’s cross from the byline created panic in the Rovers defence, and [name] Young pushed Mal Fagan-Walcott, and a penalty was awarded.

After a brief review by VAR, the decision was upheld by referee Steven McLean and up stepped Scott Tiffoney. Despite Rovers’ Connor Ripley guessing correctly, Tiff’s effort had too much on it, and the ball nestled in the bottom corner to give us the lead.

The first half was all Thistle, but despite Mikey Johnston and Drew Whittaker going close, we were unable to add to our lead before the interval.

But the expectant home fans did not have long to wait for a second goal, as seven minutes into the second half, they were rewarded with a Victor Wanyama piledriver from 25 yards that flew past Ripley.

Victor has been brought in to provide big game experience and leadership as I attempt to maximise ability while bringing down the average age of the side down (gradually), and that was the perfect way to mark his home debut.

Sadly for Victor, his home debut would be ended prematurely, being stretchered off in the 69th minute.

Despite the disappointment of the injury, it was a good performance and glad to get back to winning ways ahead of next week’s League Cup tie.

Another new arrival checked into G20 as we prepared for our League Cup tie in the form of Owen Beck on a season-long loan deal from Liverpool.

FINALLY have my competition for Harry Milne.

Championship side Ayr United visited Firhill in the second round of the League Cup with two key players missing – Murray Robson and Robbie Mackintosh – because they were cup-tied and on loan from us.

We started on the front foot, coming close in the 10th minute when Teddy Jenks’ shot from the edge of the box went narrowly wide.

But the expectant Jags fans didn’t have long to wait for a goal. Chris East’s shot was turned around the post for a corner by Ayr ‘keeper Mason Munn and from that resulting corner, Toby Tarrant headed home from Stuart Bannigan’s out-swinging delivery.

The game turned in the 29th minute when Mason Munn had to be substituted due to an injury, signalling a turn for the worst for the Honest Men.

Ten minutes before the break, we doubled our lead when Teddy Jenks rifled home from 25 yards. It was a sublime strike that owed much to Harry Milne’s marauding run into the Ayr half before laying it off to Stuart Bannigan, who teed up Teddy for the goal.

Chris East came close to adding a third just before the interval and on the other side of the break, Kieran Hamill had an effort cleared off the line before a frantic end to the game that saw five goals fly in.

Scott Tiffoney made it three as the game reached the final ten minutes, confidently slotting home from inside the box after a great pass into space to find him from Max Haygarth.

After having an effort cleared off the line, Kieran Hamill finally got his goal to make it 4-0, sweeping home after another Max Haygarth assist, the Englishman signed from Linfield heading down Mikey Johnston’s cross into the path of Hamill, who is starting to show signs of the potential that led to his £100,000 move to Maryhill from Airdrie.

The visitors found their feet in the death throes of the game, finding the net twice, a goal each for Dipo Akinyemi and Paul Smith giving the illusion of a hard-fought defeat.

But we would find one more goal at the death to put some gloss on the scoreline when Kieran Hamill swept home Scott Tiffoney’s cross/shot to secure passage to the quarter-finals relatively comfortably.

It was a mad last ten minutes, mind you.

We had to wait until the following day and the televised games to find out our fate in the quarter-finals, with a lot of big sides through and not many upsets, it was always going to be tough to reach Hampden – and that would be the case.

From one cup draw to another, it was off to Switzerland for the draw for the playoff round of the UEFA Europa League. Last year we were extremely lucky to not only be drawn against but defeat Malmo FF.

This time? It’s going to be a tougher task.

Shakhtar Donetsk? As long as we don’t end up Shakhtar Senseless.

After two important wins domestically, we turned our attention to the Europa League, where we shocked Europe last season by fighting our way through to the Round of 16.

That memorable campaign began with an against-all-odds triumph in the playoff round against Malmo FF. But this year’s challenge is significantly harder as we face Ukrainian heavyweights Shakhtar Donetsk.

When you play these kinds of teams, getting off to a good start is fundamental to getting any kind of positive result. Sadly for us, that was not to be the case, as Shakhtar found an opener after just seven minutes when Valeriy Bondar nodded home from a Gocholeishvili corner.

We almost found an equaliser in the 23rd minute when Mikey Johnston burst into the box and his attempted cutback was deflected by Bondar against his own post before being cleared, a heart-stopping moment for the Shakhtar goalscorer.

But we did rally and find a leveller, Teddy Jenks clipped the ball over the top and found Kieran Hamill and he raced through before side-footing the ball beyond Trubin in the Shakhtar goal.

We had another heart-stopping moment in stoppage time as Lassina Traore of Shakhtar had a goal disallowed after intervention from VAR.

Into the second half, Shakhtar almost went back in front when Traore burst through and struck the inside of the post. Fortunately for us, however, he strayed offside as the ball was played through to him.

But we wouldn’t be so lucky in the 70th minute when the visitors finally found that second goal, a smart move finished off by a curling strike from the edge of the box by Pedrinho.

A battling performance given the circumstances, but it looks like the Conference League beckons for us.

Ahead of our trip to St. Mirren, we fixed a hole left by the departure of Murray Robson on loan by loaning in Irish goalkeeper Daniel Rose from Schalke.

From being in a bad place mentally after losing to Shakhtar, it was time to dust ourselves down and take ourselves to a bad place physically in the form of Paisley to take on St. Mirren.

The home side were out for revenge after we stunned them with a late comeback to win towards the end of last season.

Scoring twice that day was Roddy MacGregor and the former Inverness midfielder came close to opening the scoring when his header from Tolaji Bola’s cross clipped the crossbar and went over.

But we weren’t to be quiet in the first half, coming close on two occasions from the same Scott Tiffoney corner were Kierna Hamill and Jack McMillan, but they found Buddies’ goalie Josh Vickers in excellent form.

The best chance of the first half, however, went to the home side as Ryan Strain tore down our left side and zipped a ball across the penalty area that Kenneth Vargas latched onto, but the former Hearts striker’s effort lacked enough of a touch to divert the ball beyond Daniel Rose.

In the early stages of the second half we had the next meaningful chance, when a driving run from Greg Kiltie was followed by a strike from distance and was turned around the post by Josh Vickers for another corner.

Based on the first hour or so, it was a game that was looking to burst into life the moment that a goal was scored, and the expectant crowd got their wish in the 63rd minute when our dominance of the first 15 minutes of the second half bore fruit.

Stuart Bannigan doesn’t get many goals, and when he does, they tend to be spectacular. This one was no different, seeing his initial corner blocked, the ball was worked back to him by Scott Tiffoney before driving into the box and curling a fine strike beyond the despairing Vickers to the delight of the packed stand of Thistle fans behind the goal.

After looking like it might burst into life, as mentioned above, it ultimately turned into a damp squib and was settled in the final ten minutes.

Substitute Mikey Johnston’s persistence paid off as he charged down the dallying Mark O’Hara and got a shot off from a tight angle, which Josh Vickers saved, but parried into the path of Kieran Hamill, who fired home to ensure the three points went back to Maryhill.

After the positivity of the win over St. Mirren taking us top of the Premiership due to unprecedented early season stutters by both Celtic and Rangers, it was time to see if we could work another miracle as we travelled to the Donbas-Arena to face Shakhtar Donetsk.

Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, I didn’t want to be negative, but also was reluctant to gas them up and then it goes to pot and we get utterly massacred, which if you know the area in real life, you know all about that.

The Europa League dream, already hanging by a thread, was severed in the 37th minute when Giorgio Gocholeishvili burst into our box and rifled a curling effort past Daniel Rose to finish off what was a flowing move from the home side.

But despite the onslaught from the home side, they could not add to that solitary goal and out of the Europa League we went, it could have been a serious tanking, but we did well to keep the score down against a far more illustrious (and richer) opponent.

With our exit from the Europa League at the playoff stage, we dropped into the Europa Conference League for the first time in our history and our league phase draw threw up some juicy ties.

A rematch with Qarabag from last year is very tasty. But Florence away? Oh, go on!

Our final fixture of the month followed on the heels of a shock 1-0 defeat for Rangers at Livingston, meaning that victory against the Staggies would put us clear at the top of the Premiership going into our clash with Rangers at Ibrox at the beginning of September.

A slightly rotated side, owing to the distance travelled in getting back from Ukraine, took to the field chasing a golden opportunity.

But they would be left counting their blessings early on, as the Staggies had the ball in the net in the 17th minute when Joe Adams prodded home following a set-piece.

The Staggies joy, however, would be short-lived as it was shown that Yan Dhanda had strayed just offside as the ball came in and we got away with one.

It was an abject performance from us, with the visitors having the best of everything, but they couldn’t find a way through – and neither could we and an opportunity to pull three points clear at the top of the table was blown, although we could easily have got beat.

That brings an end to the first month of the 2025/26 season, which leaves the cinch Premiership looking like this:

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Marc Wallace 0

In The End – April/May 2025

Hello and welcome to the final edition of Wallace ‘Til I Die for the 2024/25 season.

A hearty thank you to everyone who has read, liked and shared the blog over the years. It means a great deal to me because I know a blog isn’t as impressive as folk who stream on Twitch, even if we’re all doing it for the love of this magnificent game.

We’d had an excellent month domestically but suffered at the hands of Manchester United in the Europa League. But that’s to be expected when you consider the wealth disparity. We can’t compete financially with Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen at home before you even start talking about Celtic and Rangers.

Remarkably, we still have a chance of finishing second and improving on our position of third from last season, which was a massive overachievement.

So can we do it? You’ll need to keep reading to find out. We’ve got St. Mirren away and Livingston at home before the league splits.

After the late heroics against Ross County, we had two weeks to mull over our dropped points as the split approached.

For the unaware, the Scottish Premiership has 12 teams. They play home and away three times each before splitting into two groups of six to determine the final five fixtures of the season, giving it a 38-game season like in England.

It leads to the often-ridiculed scenario of teams in the bottom six sometimes finishing the season with more points than teams in the top six. Still, you would expect that when some team’s games are easier or not than others, especially when one side is adrift at the bottom of the league.

With that out of the way, it was down to business as we travelled to Paisley looking to continue our unbeaten league run at the SMISA Stadium. It’s a run that is technically still ongoing in real life, as we swapped divisions with the Buddies in 2018 and have done our damndest to avoid a return to the big time.

The Thistle side lined up in its usual 4-2-3-1 formation, Jamie Sneddon in goal with a back four of Jack McMillan, Malachi Fagan-Walcott, Sam Barnes and Lino Sousa in front of him.

Midfield Steel was provided by Stuart Bannigan and Teddy Jenks, with Alex Mighten and Charlie Whitaker on the wings, Greg Kiltie in the number ten role and Yoram Boerhout leading the line.

Newly promoted back to the Premiership ahead of this season, the home side have survived comfortably, and despite coming into the game with one win in five games, they were not to be taken lightly, having scored four goals in their last win when they trounced St. Johnstone.

Their previous wins before that had also been handsome, beating Kilmarnock 4-0, Aberdeen 3-0 and Hearts 3-1 going back into February.

We had been terrible on our last visit, going 2-0 down and having to rally with two very late goals to secure a point that, at the time, had me worrying about what we could achieve this season as it extended a winless run from the second week of the season.

In football, you get games where you just know that it’s not to be your day. Nobody in Paisley felt that more than Yoram Boerhout, as he saw two goals disallowed in the first 20 minutes.

Those incidents acted as a catalyst for the home side, enabling them to take control of the game as we floundered.

A quickly-taken free kick from the disallowed goal offside allowed the home side to steal a march on us, and Scott Banks found room down our left flank to set up Roddy MacGregor to give them the lead.

It was a tidy finish from the former Caley Thistle midfielder. But too many of my players were caught flat-footed from the St. Mirren restart after the disallowed goal.

Thriving in the Paisley rain, the home side were now well on top, and they deservedly doubled their lead as the interval approached. Stuart Bannigan’s attempt to play the ball out to Charlie Whitaker on the left wing lacked power and accuracy, leading to an interception by Marcus Fraser.

Fraser then played the ball out wide for Scott Banks, and he squared the ball for Roddy MacGregor to roll home his second goal.

More VAR drama would follow before the first 45 ended. Directly from kick-off, and after almost having the ball stolen from Stuart Bannigan again, Greg Kiltie sent a tempting ball in for Alex Mighten, who got in a tangle in the penalty area with St. Mirren’s Zak Sturge, resulting in a penalty awarded by referee Chris Graham.

I didn’t think it was a penalty, so I expected the decision to be overturned, which it was, so it was back to the drawing board for the second half.

Re-invigorated, I sent the boys back out for the second half with more than a few f-bombs ringing in their ears. We had been catastrophically shite and needed to drastically improve our performance.

The second half was a slow burn, but we looked much better, more intense than we had been in the entirety of the first 45. Eventually, we got on the board in the 69th minute through a rather nice goal from Charlie Whitaker.

A free-kick from some 30 yards, the Everton loanee sized it up and put it right where Saints ‘keeper Mikki van Sas couldn’t scramble back to save it. The type of goal you’re hoping for when you’re on top in a game that you’re losing and need any way possible to get back into the game.

Looking for inspiration from the next generation, I threw on youngster A-Jai McLelland for the last ten minutes, hoping that the brilliance of youth would work where more experienced players had failed.

His introduction breathed new life into the team, and in stoppage time, we hauled ourselves off the ropes to score a stunning equaliser.

In a stunning, flowing move orchestrated by our indefatigable right side, Jack McMillan combined with Teddy Jenks to send Alex Mighten away down the wing where the Forest loanee danced inside, then outside and then zipping a ball into the box from the byline that was prodded home by Yoram Boerhout to the rapturous delight of the Jags fan gathered behind that goal.

Every enthralling game needs a dramatic conclusion, and that…was not it.

The Buddies surged forward for a winner as the clock ticked down. Unfortunately for them, Joe Shaughnessy’s attempted long throw was intercepted by A-Jai McLelland, who fed the ball to fellow substitute Scott Tiffoney down the left flank.

Tiffoney’s attempted ball inside was blocked by a Buddies defender, but it broke favourably to McLelland.

The youngster instinctively launched it forward and found Yoram Boerhout and, after winning his footrace against the already-booked Chambers, dinked the ball over the advancing van Sas to snatch three points dramatically.

There were folk invading the pitch in the euphoria of the moment – and I hope they had a bloody good time of it.

We ended the regular* season as we began it, with a home game against Livingston.

When we beat them 6-2 on the opening day, I hoped our season would unfold as it had done, but it had not been an easy journey to get to that point.

It took us until late September to win again in the league. Although we did only lose once in that time, we had dropped points in silly draws, particularly against St. Mirren away and away to Motherwell.

I made two changes from the game against St. Mirren, rewarding A-Jai McLelland with a start ahead of Greg Kiltie for his heroics off the bench. Scott Tiffoney was given a start ahead of Alex Mighten in the other change.

Another early goal disallowed for offside didn’t dampen the spirits at a jubilant Firhill, knowing a better result than Hibs would guarantee us a place in the UEFA Europa Conference League at the very least.

The home fans didn’t have long to celebrate before we took the lead. Two minutes after the disallowed goal, Yoram Boerhout fired home from close range after a bit of good fortune as Lino Sousa’s deflected cross came right into his path.

Teddy Jenks then passed up a glorious chance to make it two after 30 minutes when his shot from the edge of the box flew wide of Shamal George’s goal. Ten minutes later, he was called into action again when he tipped a Tiffoney free-kick over for a Thistle corner.

Two minutes later, he picked the ball out of his net for a second time as Boerhout struck again, sweeping home after Bez Lubala’s cross deflected into his path after a long ball over the top from Stuart Bannigan.

Clearly, Livi hadn’t come to attack us and, apart from a couple of fortunate deflections, had done their job relatively well.

Livi’s best chance of the game came in the final 15 minutes when former Jag James Penrice’s cross found Camara in the penalty area, but his header hit the base of the post and went wide.

The cherry on the icing on the cake came in stoppage time when Teddy Jenks played in substitute Alex Mighten, who hit the byline and zipped the ball across for Yoram Boerhout to complete his hat-trick and take his league tally to 19 for the season – best in the Premiership.

To have any chance of finishing second in the Premiership and bringing Champions League football to Maryhill (I know!), a win in our first post-split match against Hibs – and our bête noire – Elias Hoff Melkersen was essential.

Hibs started the game much brighter and were on the front foot from the off.

Catching Alex Mighten and Jack McMillan flat-footed, a Kyle Magennis pass sent Bell away down our exposed right flank, where he zipped a ball across for Elias Hoff Melkersen to continue his scoring run against us in the sixth minute.

As half-time approached, the visitors were clinging to their lead until a moment of individual brilliance – or a goalkeeping howler – whichever way you want to look at it hauled us from the canvas.

Alex Mighten’s surge up the park was initially checked well by Bell, the provider for the Hibs goal. His ball inside was collected by Liam Scales, who looked to build from the back by passing to Stiven Valencia.

Unfortunately for Hibs, Valencia’s pass out of defence was intercepted by Teddy Jenks, who fortuitously picked out Alex Mighten. The Forest loanee’s diagonal ball was met perfectly by Yoram Boerhout for a fine, curling strike from the edge of the box.

A fine strike from the Dutchman, but Hibs goalie Nikita Halkin will be annoyed at coming for that Mighten cross and stopping short, giving Yoram room to shoot.

In all honesty, it was a forgettable 90+ minutes of football. After that, the closest either side came to scoring a second goal was in the 77th minute when Greg Kiltie’s strike from 20 yards whistled over the Hibs crossbar.

An annoying draw coupled with a 1-0 win for Rangers over Ross County means our chances of catching them in second place are now remote at best.

During the week, we got to call the press to Firhill as we unveiled two for the 2025/26 season.

Arriving on a free from Morton was 18-year-old Chris East, who had excelled in his first season at Championship level in a good Morton side.

The big arrival, however, was that of Kieran Hamill for a club-record fee of £100,000 from traditional rivals Airdrieonians.

It was a significant outlay for a young player in League One, but with Hibs and Aberdeen very interested in his signature, acting fast and giving him guaranteed minutes and money was a factor in getting the deal over the line.

Our second fixture in the top six, at home to Ross County, was pivotal as it followed the Old Firm at the back of 12.

A win for Celtic and a win for us would put us within two points of Rangers with three games – including a visit to Ibrox – to go.

Unfortunately, our prayers for a Celtic win went unanswered as Rangers dug in and escaped Parkhead with a goalless draw.

With Rangers having picked up a point in the Old Firm, any slip-up against County would surely be fatal, and it was up to us to get out and put the pressure on from the first whistle.

It took just five minutes for us to put the County goal under pressure when a sweeping move down the left orchestrated by Lino Sousa and Charlie Whitaker teed up Yoram Boerhout, but his shot flew wide.

The game’s opening goal arrived through an unlikely source four minutes later. Stuart Bannigan doesn’t get many, but when he does, they’re more often than not spectacular – and this was no different – a stunning first-time strike from the edge of the box after being set up by Yoram Boerhout.

A first Thistle goal in 49 games for Banzo, well worth the wait.

The visitors were taken aback by our fast start but almost equalised in the 18th minute when Ballard had a strike from 25 yards that rippled the roof of the net after a rampaging George Harmon run and cross went unchecked by Jack McMillan and then Malachi Fagan-Walcott.

Sam Barnes then squandered two chances from successive corners before a Yan Dhanda shot from a distance whistled just over for the visitors – it was a game that could turn into a goal fest. Still, we were doing well enough to keep our noses in front.

With 15 minutes left, we had a chance to double our lead when Greg Kiltie slipped in Charlie Whitaker. But his curling shot sailed wide of goal, a scintillating counter-attacking goal evaporated.

Ten minutes later, that second goal arrived when Greg Kiltie smashed home inside the penalty area.

The hard work was done by Teddy Jenks, whose lung-bursting run from the middle of the park out wide stretched the County defence before he passed inside to Stuart Bannigan and then to Kiltie to rifle past Ben Uphoff in the County goal.

After a (relatively) comfortable win over Ross County to keep our chances of finishing in our highest-ever position in the Scottish Premiership alive, we travelled to Pittodrie to take on an Aberdeen side looking to secure a place in next season’s Europa Conference League.

Despite an initially bright start, it was the home side who struck first in somewhat fortuitous circumstances when Malachi Fagan-Walcott collided with Ryan Duncan as he attempted to clear the ball, which then dropped favourably for Kaveh Rezaei to blast home from the edge of the penalty area.

The Dons sensed we were there for the taking and ramped up the pressure. But Jamie Sneddon was in top form and denied efforts from Bojan Miovski and Ross McCrorie as Aberdeen looked to add to their tally.

We didn’t create much in the first 45, but our wingers were at the heart of our efforts.

Alex Mighten got the better of his man out wide and cut inside before forcing a smart stop from Davies. Bez Lubala also came close, but his curling shot from 20 yards sailed just wide of the target.

Bojan Miovski was like a man possessed trying to get his customary goal against us. But he would be denied again in the 67th minute when his shot through a crowded penalty area struck the post and was cleared.

A terrible performance on the day was compounded by news filtering through that Rangers had drawn 2-2 with Hibs, meaning that even six points from our final two games – at home to Celtic and away to Rangers – might still not be enough to finish second.

It all boiled down to this, a positive result against Celtic coupled with a Rangers defeat at Pittodrie would set up a ding-dong classic on the final day at Ibrox to determine who would finish second behind Celtic.

I approached this one like I did all of our games against the Old Firm and in Europe, try and control the ball and look for opportunities via set-pieces or on the counter. If that didn’t work, we were fucked.

Barely five minutes into the game, we were given a golden opportunity when Alex Mighten’s cross was deflected into the path of Yoram Boerhout. Unfortunately for the Dutchman, his shot was blocked by Celtic goalkeeper Mark Flekken’s face and subsequently cleared to safety.

When given those chances against Celtic, you’ve got to take them because failure to do so will lead to punishment.

Lo and behold, the prophecy would pass in the 27th minute when Liel Abada danced inside our penalty area and curled a strike past Jamie Sneddon. It was an effort akin to the one that Charlie Whitaker missed against Ross County. Levels to the game and all that.

Celtic pushed to add to their tally, with Abada at the heart of almost everything, but they could not do so and had to settle for one goal being enough in the end.

Coupled with a 4-0 win for Rangers over Aberdeen, that defeat meant our Champions League dreams were over. One hell of a toboggan ride.

One shot on target and the only clear-cut chance in the game – still get beat.

The curtain came down on the 2024/25 season at Ibrox. We had nothing to play for – neither did the hosts, so the temptation was to field a team of youngsters and just forget about it.

Ultimately, I decided against it, wanting to end a memorable season on a high with a good result at Ibrox, where we haven’t won since 1981.

There wasn’t much to shout about. The best chance of the first half was a Jamie Shackleton shot from the edge of the box for the home side.

Goalless at the break, but we had done well to dig in, so I gently encouraged the boys to go out and have a go at them in the second 45.

It looked like bearing fruit in the early stages of the second half, as we won a clutch of corners and kept the pressure on Finn Dahmen in the Rangers’ goal, but those efforts ultimately came to nothing.

As with most games at Ibrox, the game got dramatic and controversial late on, as VAR got involved in the 88th minute when it looked like a breakthrough had (finally) been made.

It came from a very well-worked move, a throw-in followed by a quick one-two and a cross into the edge of the penalty area that was headed home by the strike on the edge of the six-yard box.

There was much consternation about whether the striker was offside when he made the run. After deliberation that felt like hours, the decision was taken to award the goal.

Despite the best efforts, there would be no response to the quick-thinking, and it remained 1-0.

YASSSSSS. Meant nothing ultimately, but yassss.

That brilliant, but ultimately meaningless victory (in the scheme of Champions League qualification hopes) brought the 2024/25 season to an end for Partick Thistle, leaving the Scottish Premiership looking like this at the end of it all:

Those two defeats to Aberdeen and Celtic sunk our hopes of stealing the Champions League place from Rangers, making the victory at Ibrox a Curate’s Egg with no soldiers to dip it in.

Hearts’ impressive revival under Jon Dahl Tomasson will place them in contention for Europe next season, which isn’t good news for us.

Ultimately, Celtic and Ange Postecoglou cantered to another league title, as Rangers paid the price for too many drawn games.

It would ultimately become a domestic treble for Celtic, as they crushed Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Final, adding to the League Cup they won against Dundee in the winter.

A season to forget for Motherwell, Kilmarnock and St. Johnstone, but at least The Steelmen survived.

Killie’s 11th-place finish was a mere stay of execution, echoing our own drop in 2017/18 and theirs in 2020/21.

I donned my white sole trainers and joined the punditry team for the playoffs. I watched as Raith Rovers beat Ayr in the quarter-finals, Dundee in the semis and eventually Killie themselves in the final.

Rovers bossed the first leg, easing to a 3-1 win and scored early in the second leg to turn the away end at Rugby Pugby into a dancefloor.

But Killie showed some fight with two goals in the last two minutes that saw them turn the scoreline around on the day.

Sadly for the Ayrshire side, they couldn’t get that third goal to take it to extra time, and Raith returned to the top table in Scottish Football for the first time since the 1996/97 season.

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Marc Wallace 0

International Duty – A Catch-Up With The Scotland National Team

With Thistle now out of Europe, the Scottish Premiership drawing to a conclusion, and the split on the horizon, it’s time to take a little detour and catch up with the Scotland National Team and see how their 2024/25 season has been shaping up.

Scotland qualified for Euro 2024 in Germany and found themselves in Group E. alongside Slovakia, Croatia and Poland.

It was a group considered favourable to Steve Clarke’s side, at least on paper.

Two first-half goals in Berlin against the Slovaks had them dreaming. A Milan Skiniar goal jangled the nerves, but they held on for a huge win, their first at a Euros since 1996.

Like Scotland, Croatia had won their opening game and were looking for three points to rubber-stamp a place in the Round of 16.

The Croatians, with their substantial experience of big games and crucial moments in tournaments, showed that from the first whistle, taking the lead after six minutes through Dario Spikic.

But Stevie Clarke’s Scotland showed their recent growth, equalising through Ryan Christie five minutes later.

Cruelly, Croatia went into the interval leading when Josep Brekalo netted a minute before the break. It not only gave Croatia a mental advantage going into the break but allowed them to have the ascendency from the beginning of the second half – it would be here where it fell apart for Scotland.

Roko Simic netted in the 50th minute to make it 3-1 before Josip Stanisic made it four in the 54th.

Scotland hit back in the final 20 minutes through John McGinn (who else) and Oli McBurnie, but there would be a late dagger to the hearts when Simic completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 88th minute.

It was all down to the final game against Poland, who defeated Slovakia 2-1 in the other game.

For the second consecutive tournament, it all came down to the final game for Scotland.

It was to be no easy feat against Poland. Still, both sides knew that victory in the final game and a (likely) Croatia win over Slovakia would ensure progression to the Round of 16 as runners-up. In contrast, the losers would have to wait and see where they ranked among the third-place finishers.

It began disastrously for Scotland when Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for Poland after just seven minutes. But Scotland hit back in first-half stoppage time through Scott McTominay, who would run us ragged with Manchester United in Europe later in the season.

A point apiece suited both sides and would surely be enough for progression, but it wasn’t to be for Scotland as Nicola Zalewski struck in the 89th minute to break Scottish hearts.

The defeat ensured that Scotland’s goal difference of -3 with their three points was enough to send Belgium, Italy, Spain and Wales through, the Italians and Welsh by a single goal.

For anyone that cares, Portugal won the tournament, defeating Italy on penalties in the final and England lost in the Round of 16 to Belgium.

After a glorious Nations League campaign in 2023/24, Scotland found themselves in League A for the first time, a remarkable progression considering they began play in League C.

There are no “diddy” nations in League A, and Scotland landed a group with Croatia, France and Switzerland.

After a win over Switzerland in their opening game, they lost 3-0 to Croatia, leaving them two games with France to fight for their League A lives.

France rolled into Hampden knowing that victory against Scotland at Hampden would leave the Tartan Army needing a miracle at home to Croatia and away to Switzerland.
But Hampden does funny things to the more illustrious sides, and it can prove magical for the Scotland team and the fans.

Che Adams opened the scoring in the 26th minute, followed by a Nathan Patterson goal in the 41st. Hampden was working its magic yet again.~

Scott McTominay added a third in the 84th minute, with France being restricted to a stoppage-time penalty at the end for consolation.

The historic win over France set up (another) grudge match at Hampden with the Croatians. They had put six goals past Scotland at the Euros and defeated Scotland at Euro 2020 at Hampden to prevent them progressing to the Round of 16.

Once again, Croatia were faster out of the traps and took the lead through Gabriel Vidovic after seven minutes.

But Scotland hit back within four minutes through Ryan Christie before John McGinn turned it around in the 18th minute, giving Scotland the lead.

Sadly for Scotland, it was a short-lived lead, as Croatia hit back through Luka Sucic and restored their lead two minutes later via Bosko Sutalo of Bayern Munich.

After a frantic first 25 minutes, the game died down in intensity before rapidly escalating again in the final five minutes.

Scotland grabbed an equaliser in the 84th minute through Swansea striker Kyle Joseph – but Croatia then looked to have won it a minute later when Sucic scored his second of the night.

But this is Scotland under Stevie Clarke, and they found one last moment of brilliance in stoppage time to grab a point in stoppage time with Joseph again the hero.

Another thriller, at least we didn’t lose.

Those four points were crucial, as Switzerland couldn’t catch Scotland even if they won their final games.

Despite knowing that, Scotland managed to do inexplicable Scotland things and they were horsed in Zurich.

With safety secured in League A for another campaign, Scotland headed for the Stade de France for a pressure-free kickabout against one of the best teams on the planet and hope to repeat the heroics of James McFadden and co back in the day.

Unfortunately, those who travelled were witnesses to something of a bloodbath, with three players going off injured and one man – Scotland’s Ryan Christie – being sent off.

The 1-0 win for France didn’t matter in the end for Scotland, but surviving in Nations League A is a tremendous confidence boost ahead of a potentially tough World Cup qualifying group for Scotland.

Steve Clarke’s side will face Hungary, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands and Northern Ireland as they look to break their World Cup hoodoo that extends back to France 98.

As a side note, Scotland won their opening World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan 3-0 at Hampden, the goals coming from Scott McTominay, Nathan Patterson and Ryan Gauld.

Posted on March 5, 2024 by Marc Wallace 0

Remember Who We’re Talking About Here – March 2025

Before we could focus on domestic matters, it was back to the land of chocolate, cheese and watches (Switzerland) for the draw for the Last 16 of the UEFA Europa League.

Considering the level of opposition left, I was content to receive my wee gift bag of expensive trinkets to take back to Glasgow.

Our best possible draw as an unseeded team was Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad. The worst possible one was Manchester United.

After thinking that was the case, it was made official that we were playing Manchester United in a competitive tie. The two clubs hadn’t met since 1973 when they played in a Testimonial for long-serving Thistle player Donnie Mackinnon.

Plenty had changed since the last time any Thistle side faced Manchester United.

Looking to bounce back from our disappointing defeat in the capital, we welcomed a Killie side to Firhill desperate for points to beat the drop.

Killie’s February in the league was a mixed bag. Wins over St. Johnstone (3-0) and Ross County (4-1) were alongside a 2-0 defeat to Hearts and 4-0 defeats to Livingston and St. Mirren.

My instructions to the players were simple – go out and do a job on Killie, as we had done away to Motherwell. It started promisingly when Teddy Jenks’ ball around the corner found Alex Mighten and the Forest loanee’s effort whistled just wide of the far post.

Mighten was at the heart of everything positive in the early going, keeping the ball alive after a Bez Lubala free-kick. Still, we couldn’t get it into the back of the net.

Yoram Boerhout was next to try his luck. The Dutchman did well to get into position for a Bez Lubala cross, only to balloon his effort wide.

But the breakthrough eventually came in the 26th minute. Jack McMillan quickly threw the ball to Alex Mighten, and he flicked the ball into the path of Teddy Jenks, who cut it back for Yoram Boerhout to rifle home.

Keeping the momentum going, we swept forward again, winning a corner when Alex Mighten’s shot was tipped around the post by Sam Walker. The resulting corner found the back of the net, but it didn’t count as Sam Barnes had bundled the ball over the line using his arm.

After a rousing chat at the interval, it was back out to add to our tally, and within 15 minutes of the restart, we added a second. Alex Mighten’s lung-bursting run down the right and cross were initially cleared. It would be worked back into the box for Bez Lubala to jink past a Killie defender and drill a low shot past Sam Walker.

It was an excellent goal, thanks to the tireless work of Lino Sousa to set Bez up.

Walker was in inspired form for the visitors, and he was on hand to prevent Mighten when he burst into the penalty area and then again in the 84th minute to palm away a Scott Tiffoney shot.
There was some consolation for the well-beaten visitors in the 87th minute when Steven Warnock stylishly finished off a slick move down our right flank.

A narrower win than the stats suggested, but we’ve bounced back well from the defeat to Hibs ahead of the tie with Manchester United.

A dominant display, but I felt we could have scored more.

For most Scottish clubs, Europe is more often than not an expensive distraction, especially in the 21st century.

The best collaborative season for Scotland in recent times was in 2008, when Celtic reached the Last 16 of the UEFA Champions League, losing 4-2 to Barcelona, and Aberdeen reached the Round of 32 of the UEFA Cup, losing to Bayern Munich 7-3 on aggregate. Perhaps most memorably, Rangers reached the final of the same competition, losing to Zenit St. Petersburg.

Everything up until this point for us has been by the seat of our pants. We have been winging it. Even reaching the League Phase was a significant overachievement.

So, to be facing Manchester United for the possibility of reaching the quarter-finals of the Europa League is dreamland stuff.

We were forced into one change, Stuart Bannigan missed out due to accumulating too many bookings. But truthfully, even with Banzo in the team, we wouldn’t have been able to stop The Red Devils.

Marcus Rashford raced through our low block and squared for Bruno Fernandes to finish from 20 yards to open the scoring.

The Portuguese was levels above everyone else on the park and notched his second from distance in eight minutes, latching onto Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s through ball and blasting past Jamie Sneddon from 25 yards.

It felt like each goal was getting better in this game – and with 12 minutes to go, Fernandes completed his hat-trick with a stunning curling strike off the bar from 30 yards after being teed up by Alejandro Garnacho.
Raphael Varane added a fourth in stoppage time. We couldn’t get near them, and I have no complaints. If I’d been more open, it would have been properly embarrassing.

Sadly, It would never be anything other than something like this.

After the disappointment (and manner) of the defeat against Manchester United in Europe, facing a free-falling St. Johnstone side in the league looked to be what the doctor ordered.

However, who that Doctor was would be called into question when the home side took the lead after three minutes. An in-swinging corner caused havoc and was unceremoniously bundled in, the final touch coming off Greg Kiltie for an own goal.

For the Saints, staying solid has been an issue all season, and it continued here when we equalised in the 20th minute. Harry Milne bombed forward before sliding the ball out wide to Charlie Whitaker. His cross-field pass picked out Teddy Jenks, who showed Darragh O’Connor a clean pair of heels before smashing home from inside the penalty area.

We went into the break level, but we were smelling blood. I told the boys to go out there and show the same intensity we had shown against Kilmarnock at Firhill, something which paid off when Yoram Boerhout made it 2-1 barely two minutes into the second half.

Stuart Bannigan’s corner was only headed away as far as Sam Barnes. He played in Scott Tiffoney, who burst into the box and cut it back for Yoram to sidefoot home from inches out.

Two more goals followed in quick succession. Jack McMillan’s cross was swung at and missed by Saints’ Darragh O’Connor, allowing Charlie Whitaker to time his run to perfection and make it 3-1 from a tight angle.

That was followed four minutes later by a Scott Tiffoney penalty. We were cruising, absolutely cruising – and the Perth Saints were capsizing.

With the game now into the final ten minutes, four goals became five when an exquisite cross from Charlie Whitaker was headed back across goal and in by Yoram Boerhout for his second of the game.

Certainly, a dismal performance from the home side, who are almost certainly dropping out of the top flight at the end of the season

But they would get the last word on a horrific day at the office when Jenno Campagne turned the ball into his own net for the second OG of the day.

How generous of us to score all this game’s goals.

After the result of the first leg, this trip to a proper Cathedral of world football may have felt pointless, but try telling that to my players.

We had scratched and clawed against the odds to get to this stage – all of it against the odds – and take a look at us now, all the better for it.

It didn’t feel like that when we were 2-0 down after 12 minutes to a goal each from Alejandro Garnacho and Casemiro, in all honesty.

But the biggest cheer of the night for the Thistle fans came in the 28th minute when Christian Eriksen saw his (admittedly poor) penalty saved by Jamie Sneddon.

Garnacho added a third in the 41st minute. It was on course to be worse than the first leg at the interval.

Antony added a fourth in the 68th minute, then Marco Asensio made it five. It was very much like watching a 1990s WWF squash match at this point.

There was a wee bit of joy for the travelling Jags fans in the 80th minute when we pulled a goal back. Teddy Jenks intercepted a poor header back to Alex Nubel from Lisandro Martine. Surging forward, he fired the ball past the German ‘keeper to bring a modicum of joy to those travelling from Maryhill.

Like they did in the first leg, United scored in stoppage time. This time, it was Scott McTominay adding the coup de grace.

A complete horsing, but we were always going to get one against that quality of opposition, time to focus on the league.

An absolute demolition, a nice moment for Teddy, though.

As far as Sunday games in the Scottish Premiership generally go, this was definitely not a classic of the genre.

Fresh off an absolute pasting in Europe off Manchester United, we returned to Firhill to face a Ross County side harbouring dreams of playing in Europe, but the Staggies were also nursing a bruised ego after a painful 3-0 defeat to Aberdeen in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.

We got off to a good start in this one, Greg Kiltie hammering the crossbar from a Lino Sousa corner. It was a quick (and pleasant) change of pace from Thursday when it felt like we spent the entire night watching Jamie Sneddon pick the ball out of his own net.

The Staggies were cautious throughout and very patient in their buildup play, which played into their hands and resulted in them taking the lead through Paul Mullin.

After some neat passing around, Yan Dhanda surged freely down the right and put in a cross that was deflected and dropped kindly for Mullin to volley home from 12 yards.

It took us a while to garner a response, but we did find one in the 71st minute through that man again, Yoram Boerhout. Stuart Bannigan and Teddy Jenks combined in the middle of the park after Sam Barnes brought the ball out from the back, and it was Jenks, the former Brighton man, who slipped Yoram in to equalise.

Despite the protestations from the visitors, the goal was given after a check with VAR and the points were shared in a game of football that definitely happened on this particular Sunday.

Finishing the month with one win after this disappointment at home.

With another month in the books, here is what the cinch Premiership looks like with the split looming.

An improved month for Motherwell has seen them get out of the bottom two, Killie might be able to overtake them, but the Championship beckons for Brian Kerr’s Saints.

Hearts’ new manager has invigorated them, but it might be too late for a tilt at the Europa Conference League.

As for us? Well, anything can happen come the split, we have a chance to finish second, but we’ll likely need to beat both Celtic and Rangers to have any chance.

Until next time,

Marc

Posted on March 1, 2024 by Marc Wallace 0

The Marakanazo – February 2025

Before we could get on with facing Celtic in the Premiership, it was time for a quick trip to Switzerland to take in the draw for the Europa League playoff round, which we had unexpectedly reached after thrashing Qarabag in our final league phase match.

Being unseeded, it was a daunting prospect regardless of who we might get, and that drama only escalated when we were the first team pulled out of the hat, literally the first one.

After a period of anticipation that felt like forever, we found out who our opponents were – FK Crvena Zvezda – aka former European Cup winners, Red Star Belgrade.

It’s certainly a tall order, but it was better than some of the sides we could have got. We will play both legs a week apart in the middle of the month after we face Rangers at Firhill on my birthday.

Red Star stunned everyone when they won the European Cup in 1991, beating Marseille on penalties in Bari.

Three days after a memorable night in Firhill’s history, we made the trip across Glasgow to take on a Celtic side who had a momentous night of their own in Europe when they defeated Spurs 2-0 to secure a place in the playoff round of the Champions League.

Attacking from the first whistle, Liel Abada cut inside and fired against the woodwork after being played in by Waldschmidt.

That early chance was a warning that went unheeded, and the hosts found a way through in the seventh minute through their tireless captain, Callum McGregor. Luca Waldschmidt combined with Liel Abada out wide, and the Israeli slid it across the penalty area for McGregor to rifle in.

It was a terrific move by Celtic, in fairness, symbolic of how Ange Postecoglou has them playing.

Despite not getting a sniff throughout the entire first 45, we were still only 1-0 down at the break. I told the players in the dressing room to continue defending obstinately.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be, but it took until the final 15 minutes of the game for the hosts to break through our low block, doing so in fortunate circumstances when Liel Abada’s shot inside the box was deflected past Jamie Sneddon by Malachi Fagan-Walcott.

With the game sealed after that own goal, Celtic made sure of the three points in stoppage time when Kyogo swept home from a Jack Harrison cross, a brutal defeat ahead of two massive home games.

After a tough day out at Celtic Park, it was time to try and bounce back at Firhill in the first of two massive games in the league back-to-back in Maryhill that could be key to finishing as high up the table as possible.

First up was an Aberdeen side who comprehensively defeated us at Pittodrie in the previous meeting between the sides. The Dons had won three of their four games in January, only losing to Celtic, but one of those wins was against Highland League side Rothes in the Scottish Cup.

Like us, they came into this game off the back of a 3-0 defeat – except their loss was to St. Mirren – so I was wary of any potential reaction from the visitors.

We began the game with a real attacking verve, going close in the first minute when Charlie Whitaker forced a save from Davies in the Aberdeen goal. Unfortunately for the Everton loanee, he had stayed marginally offside in the buildup, and no corner was awarded.

The visitors couldn’t get out of their half in the early exchanges, coming close to conceding again when Alex Mighten intercepted a pass meant for Bojan Miovski and burst up the pitch, and past multiple Aberdeen defenders – only to balloon his strike way wide of goal.

We came even closer to opening the scoring in the 24th minute when another Aberdeen move up the park was cut out. Harry Milne then rampaged up the left flank and crossed impeccably for Yoram Boerhout. The Dutch striker saw his header denied by the post as another chance went begging.

As the first half ticked down, we looked like going in goalless at the break despite near-total domination of the game from the first whistle, which looked like changing in first-half stoppage time when a delightful Stuart Bannigan clip over the top found Yoram Boerhout and the Dutchman made no mistake on the half volley to give us the lead.

Or so we thought. After consideration from VAR, Chris Graham disallowed the goal, and we went into the interval drawing 0-0.

Despite the late sucker punch of the disallowed goal, I didn’t hold back my praise of my players’ performance, both individually and collectively. They hadn’t given Aberdeen a sniff, the same Aberdeen team who beat us 2-0 going on four or five at Pittodrie months earlier.

With the players raring to go after my inspirational words, we went back out looking to make our mark on the lacklustre visitors – and we would be rewarded within a minute of the restart when we had the ball in the back of the net (again).

Harry Milne and Greg Kiltie combined well following a throw-in deep in Aberdeen territory, eventually working the ball to Charlie Whitaker on the edge of the box, where the Everton loanee curled the ball beyond Davies.

Five minutes later, we made it two. Jack McMillan’s quickly taken throw-in left Greg Kiltie in plenty of space to cut the ball back across the penalty area, where Yoram Boerhout was on hand to sweep home his 20th goal of the season.

Moments later. Yoram had the ball in the back of the net again, rifling home from close range after a raking Greg Kiltie pass picked him out in the penalty area. Unfortunately for Yoram, the officials would rain on his parade again, disallowing his second goal of the afternoon and denying him a hat-trick on the day.

An utterly dominant display against a very good side, now to try and repeat that level of collective quality against Rangers.

This was huge, not only did we beat them and widen the gap on them, they didn’t even have a shot at goal!

After a good performance in stopping Aberdeen from even having a shot at goal, it was time for another televised encounter as Rangers travelled to Maryhill.

We lost the reverse fixture 3-0 at Ibrox but had been victorious in the last meeting at Firhill back in September.

This game started well enough. Jack McMillan’s quickly-taken throw-in was played between Alex Mighten and Teddy Jenks before Jack’s deep cross was headed home by Yoram Boerhout. After an initial panic of a VAR check, the Thistle fans could celebrate the goal and the lead.

Rangers would hit back just after the 30-minute mark when Ianis Hagi’s free-kick was palmed onto the crossbar, presenting an open goal to Emil Forsberg. The veteran Swedish striker made no mistake from close range, a moment that Jamie Sneddon will not want to see back – and was duly reminded of when we got in at the break.

The visitors were the more likely to grab a winning goal, Glen Kamara coming the closest when he burst into the box, only to be denied by Malachi Fagan-Walcott and scrambled to safety.

But Rangers were to be left disappointed with their efforts, being undone by a moment of genius by one of our youngsters taking their first steps in the big time. Jack McMillan and Alex Mighten moved the ball up the right flank before passing to Teddy Jenks, who found youngster A-Jai McLelland, and his through ball found Bez Lubala to give us the lead.

A lesson in counter-attacking that Rangers had no answer to, and the three points remained in Maryhill.

Closed the gap on them in second to two points, but they have a game in hand…

After two gigantic home wins, we got set for our third important game as former European champions FK Crvena zvezda, aka Red Star Belgrade, visited Maryhill looking to rekindle past glories.

En route to their historic European Cup triumph in 1991, Red Star defeated Rangers and were looking to end another Glaswegian team’s continental hopes.

Predictably, the visitors were the first to attack. Veljko Nikolic seized on a weak headed clearance before firing a shot straight into the grateful arms of Jamie Sneddon.

Initially a cagey affair, it kicked into life at the end of the first half with two goals.

A hopeful ball over the top of the Red Star defence by Sam Barnes was improperly cleared and allowed Greg Kiltie to seize the ball and slip in Alex Mighten to give us a shock lead against the former European Champions.

But that joy would be short-lived as the visitors replied almost immediately. Azarovi found space down the left and crossed for Jovan Mijatovic, whose header was initially saved by Jamie Sneddon, but like in the game against Rangers – he was left helpless for the rebound – and it was one apiece at the interval.

In the 52nd minute, we got our noses back in front when a quickly taken corner by Lino Sousa found its way back to the loanee full-back, where he curled home from the edge of the box.

Both how we were moving the ball about and off the ball was proving difficult for Red Star to deal with. A Mal Fagan-Walcott diagonal picked out Alex Mighten, the Nottingham Forest loanee’s cross hung in the air for what felt like an eternity before Yoram Boerhout nodded the ball beyond Borjan to extend our lead.

There was a close call (of sorts) in the 88th minute when Scott Tiffoney’s through ball looked to pick out Charlie Whitaker, but the visitors were able to see that he didn’t get through and we took a precious two-goal lead to Serbia and their infamous Marakana stadium.

Asked them to play like they did against Rangers, and got another gigantic performance.

After three big games at Firhill and three wins, it was fair to assume that our mood was high and morale was through the roof as we headed to Belgrade for the second leg of our Europa League playoff.

Red Star’s home ground, known by Serbs as the Marakana in tribute to the legendary Brazilian stadium, has a special place in Scottish Football folklore as the place where the men’s national team ended their decades-long absence from a major tournament when Serbia were defeated on penalties amid a pandemic lockdown.

My pre-match team talk was cautious, I told them that they needed to focus from the first whistle as our 3-1 triumph in the first leg was somewhat fortuitous and we couldn’t afford any kind of slow start.

As with all things Partick Thistle, real or virtual, the one thing we did not want to happen happened, and the home side took the lead after just two minutes.

Kings Kangwa surged into our half, finding Osman Bukari, whose clipped ball found Nikolic in space. He passed backwards to Stamenic, who returned it to Bukari, and his pass met the well-timed run into our box by Stefan Mitrovic to fire the home side ahead and reduce the aggregate deficit to one goal.

Two minutes later, it felt like I wanted the earth to swallow me up when Malachi Fagan-Walcott clipped Mitrovic in the box as he raced to get onto a pass from Kings Kangwa. There was no doubt what was about to happen, and there would be no let-off from VAR – it was a penalty to the hosts to give them a chance to level the tie on aggregate.

Kings Kangwa stepped up, but his low penalty was gratefully smothered by Jamie Sneddon. We were still alive – for the time being.

That stay of execution lasted only ten minutes as the home side found a route to goal to bring the tie level on aggregate. Kings Kangwa atoned for his penalty miss by putting a corner kick straight onto the head of Peter Olayinka, who caused us no end of problems without getting on the scoresheet in the first leg.

The Serbs smelled blood and almost had a third immediately after the second goal when Osman Bukari had the space to turn in the box and fire off a shot which narrowly went wide of Jamie Sneddon’s post.

All the momentum was with the home side moments after Jamie Sneddon made an excellent save from a Kings Kangwa free-kick, Red Star found their third goal and their third gear. Malachi Fagan-Walcott dallied on the ball, and Olayinka nipped in and slipped the ball past Jamie Sneddon – it was full-blown panic stations now – we were going out after completely blowing it.

After Olayinka almost had another for his hat trick, blazing a shot high over the bar, I frantically tried firing the lads up, hoping for something, anything to save our sinking ship.

In the 41st minute, we showed signs of life. Bez Lubala’s free-kick was swung into the Red Star penalty area, Sam Barnes’ header was parried into a ruck of bodies, and Teddy Jenks pounced to get us on the scoresheet and level the tie on aggregate.

On the stroke of half-time, we had another chance to score when another Lubala free-kick to the far post was met by Greg Kiltie and turned behind for a corner that was collected easily by Milan Borjan in the Red Star goal.

Having worked hard to get themselves out of their deficit and into the lead, Red Star piled the pressure on as they looked for a fourth goal to kill off our hopes.

In the 89th minute, they almost found it when a deep cross caught Jamie Sneddon in no man’s land. But fortunately for Jamie, Mituljikic’s shot hit the side netting, with the shot into an unguarded net proving to be from too tight an angle.

Eager for one last attack, the hosts kept pushing and pushing, and in stoppage time, they got a throw-in deep inside our half. Taken by Lazar Nikolic, who combined with Mituljikic and Kings Kangwa. The Zambian then passed backwards to Stamenic, who picked out the unmarked Knezevic. He slipped the ball to Mituljikic for Stefan Mitrovic, who slotted home to break our hearts.

The home crowd went wild, amazed at their remarkable comeback, until they realised that Mituljikic had been offside when Knezevic picked him out from the middle of the penalty area.

I’ve made a point of showing how down to the bare bones we are in terms of both European-level quality and reputation in general by including several youngsters on the bench, many of them not getting on, merely being included for the experience.

In the 96th minute, Yoram Boerhout had run himself ragged and couldn’t continue further, so on came Robbie Mackintosh, an 18-year-old who we had signed from Albion Rovers when he was 16 on recommendation from our domestic scout.

Red Star remained entirely on top, but Harry Milne, who had come on for Lino Sousa, won the ball in the middle of our half and sent Charlie Whitaker away down the left flank.

Shielding the ball from Kings Kangwa before passing it back to Harry Milne, he slipped it into the box for youngster A-Jai McLelland. The 17-year-old was tackled in the act of passing the ball.

But Mario Stamenic’s missed interception meant the ball rolled to the feet of Mackintosh, and the youngster slammed the ball into the net directly in front of the travelling support from Maryhill.

Unbelievable.

Red Star had no answer for that late goal, and despite 21 shots (10 on target) to our 7 (4 on target) and their 3.26 xG to our 1.48, they crashed out of Europe to Partick Thistle.

That’s right, Partick Thistle had knocked out Red Star Belgrade and were in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League.

What is it with this stadium and penalties being missed?! Oh my god.

After an exhausting night in Belgrade, it was home to Scotland to take on Motherwell in the early kickoff on Sunday afternoon on Sky.

I made two changes for this one against the struggling Steelmen, Harry Milne coming in for Lino Sousa and Scott Tiffoney replacing Alex Mighten.

Feeling a bit too much confidence internally, I set up to be proper attacking from the off against the hosts, who had doubled their league win tally from two to four in the buildup to this game but had lost in extra time to League One side Queen of the South in their most recent match.

It was an approach that paid off after 23 minutes when a Stuart Bannigan corner was cleared, but kept the ball in their half before a well-worked move from left to right saw Scott Tiffoney zip the ball into the area for Bez Lubala to fire home from close range.

The home side searched for an immediate response, but after good work down the left from loanee wing-back Jordan Hackett, Jack Aitchison’s curling shot sailed over the bar, brushing the roof of the net.

Our quick passing and movement belied that of a team that had played 120 minutes during the week. It almost led to a second goal before the break when another whipped cross from Scott Tiffoney provoked panic in the Motherwell back line, leading to Ricki Lamie almost putting the ball into his own net when he got his feet in a fankle trying to clear Tiffoney’s ball across the box.

Two minutes later, we were (initially) awarded a penalty when Buz Lubala burst into the Motherwell penalty area from the left flank and was felled by Michael Rose. It looked like absolutely nothing, in fairness, and sure enough, the referee overturned the decision after a look at the monitor.

Our first-half performance, as mentioned above, was excellent for a team who played 120 minutes midweek against a much higher standard of opponent – and I made a point of telling the boys that at the break and really fired them up for going back out for the second half.

The boys carried that momentum out onto the park as we took the game to the hosts right from the off, with Jack McMillan coming close to a spectacular goal, seeing his shot from 20 yards crash against the crossbar. Teddy Jenks followed up with a piledriver of his own from a similar distance that Liam Kelly palmed around the post for a corner that ultimately came to nothing for us.

But the travelling fans who had swelled the two-tier stand behind the goal at Fir Park would soon be celebrating when Harry Milne floated a delicious ball through the middle of the Motherwell midfield and defence for Yoram Boerhout, which the Dutchman then stylishly flicked into the net over Liam Kelly.

And like buses in any country that isn’t Scotland, one quickly followed another when more stylish play from Harry Milne at left-back led to Greg Kiltie making it 3-0. Stuart Bannigan saw him in space out wide, and the former Cove Rangers man split the Motherwell defence with a pass for Bez Lubala, who flicked the ball into Kiltie’s path for a fantastic first-time strike.

The home fans were on their way out when Motherwell started looking like scoring, Callum Slattery having a shot from range that went just wide, but it did nothing to stem the tide of fed-up Well fans.

Those Motherwell fans who did stay to the end were rewarded with some consolation as Jordan Hackett spoiled Jamie Sneddon’s clean sheet with what was, admittedly, a smart volley from inside the penalty area.

Still, there was no doubt that the points were heading back to Glasgow and the Steelmen remain in deep trouble at the foot of the table.

Had the fear changing to more attacking for this, but glad we performed so well.

A hectic month concluded with a trip to the capital to take on a Hibs side looking to reel us in and make it a fight to finish in third place (at least).

That felt weird to type out, but we’ve shown no signs of weakness apart from against sides where we are properly out of depth, like our Glasgow rivals and the decent sides we’ve played in Europe this season.

Unfortunately, Hibs are one of the sides we’ve had a tendency to come unstuck against outwith that group of sides. You can have that one, Leishy.

After forcing them back with our high press, the home side got their noses in front from a counter-attack. Martin Boyle won the duel in the air with Lino Sousa after a punt up the park from Halkin in the Hibs goal, his header was picked up by Luca Connell, who slid Melkersen for a tidy finish past Jamie Sneddon from a tight angle.

Nothing was coming off for us. In the 50th minute, we worked the ball into the box very smartly from a throw-in deep in Hibs territory, unfortunately for us, nobody was there to receive the ball from Greg Kiltie’s backheel pass from around the penalty spot, and the chance went begging.

The home side nearly scored on the counter for the second time moments later when Davitashvili burst into our half and squared the ball for Melkersen, but the Norwegian couldn’t get a clean strike on the ball and his effort sailed well wide of goal.

Arguably, our best chance came in the 59th minute when a stunning move from left to right and back again saw Greg Kiltie tee up Kyle Turner with a cutback that saw the former Dunfermline man smash the post with his shot.

Try as we might, we couldn’t find a way back into the game, Sam Barnes’ header ruffling the side netting indicative of a game that we had plenty of chances in, but couldn’t find that killer instinct for once, we’ll play to that standard and win more games than we lose.

I am absolutely desperate for someone, anyone, to sign Melkersen.

There was mild consolation in the aftermath of the defeat at Easter Road as news filtered through that Rangers had drawn at St. Mirren.

The flip side of that is that if we’d won, we would have gone second in the league.

Anyway, onto next month, when we play in the Round of 16 in the Europa League, something that feels utterly surreal to be typing out.

Because the screenshot didn’t save, I will reveal the identity of our opponents in the next blog post.

Until next time,

Marc.

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Marc Wallace 0

Wallace 'Til I Die

Author: Marc Wallace