Bob Thescutter

I would have to agree with that. I always regarded Conroy as a player with absolutely no end product, always promising more than he ever delivered. I hope we avoid him like the plague

Match report from the official Celtic web site: Celtic XI stung by Jags at Firhill By: Mark Henderson on 21 Jul, 2012 13:57 Firhill Stadium Arr Craig Cup Saturday, July 21, 2012 PARTICK THISTLE…2 (Welsh 33, Lawless 48) CELTIC XI…0 A CELTIC XI were beaten 2-0 by Partick Thistle in the opening match of the Arr Craig Cup pre-season tournament at Firhill. Goals in each half from Sean Welsh and Steven Lawless have the hosts the spoils, consigning a young Hoops side to Sunday's third/fourth place play-off against either Airdrie or Everton. Stevie Frail and Danny McGrain had selected a youthful team with a smattering of first-team experience. The likes of Morten Rasmussen, Rabiu Ibrahim and Josh Thompson featured alongside many of last year's double-winning Under-19s' side. One of the key men in that success was Tony Watt, who of course made such a memorable top-team bow towards the end of last season with a brace against Motherwell. The young striker started on the left of a front-three and he was soon causing problems to the hosts' backline with his strength and direct running. In the seventh minute, he created the first chance of the match for himself, cleverly spinning away from his marker and curled a shot narrowly wide of the far post. The home side offered an instant response when former Celt, Stephen O'Donnell, reached the byline but Christie Elliot failed to make a proper connection from his cutback. At the other end, Watt drove into the area and sent in a dangerous cross from the left. Rasmussen reached it but his flick was deflected wide. The more experienced and streetwise Thistle side gradually began to enjoy more possession and carve out some opportunities, with Stuart Brannigan and Chris Erskine forcing Robbie Thomson into smart saves. Just past the half-hour mark, they made the breakthrough when substitute Sean Welsh headed into the corner from Paul Paton's free-kick from the right. The Jags had further chances to the extend their advantage but Elliot dragged a shot wide and Marcus Fraser made a last-gasp tackle to thwart Erksine. After surviving that barrage, the Hoops mounted several attacks of their own as half-time approached. Rasmussen was unable to divert a right-wing cross on target and a rasping drive from Callum McGregor was tipped over by Scott Fox. However, Thomson had to make another excellent stop before the break, pushing Aaron Muirhead's thunderous free-kick to safety to keep the deficit at one goal. Celtic came out with greater purpose after the restart and a terrific piece of trickery and vision from Rabiu Ibrahim sent Patrik Twardzik through on goal but the Czech youngster fired high into the stand. However, 60 seconds later, the Jags doubled their advantage as Steven Lawless found the corner with an accurate finish from 18 yards after Erskine's shot had been blocked. With Jackie McNamara's side in control, the Hoops made a double change with Darnell Fisher and Paul Slane replacing Lewis Toshney and Twardzik. Nonetheless, it was the hosts who continued to pose the greater goal threat, although McGregor forced Fox into s save and Paul Slane saw a goalbound effort blocked for the Bhoys. In the closing minutes, Kris Doolan struk the post for the home side and Paul Paton shot over as Thistle finished strongly to progress into tomorrow's final. CELTIC XI ( 4-3-3) Thomson; Toshney (Fisher 58) Fraser, Thompson, Blackman (Chalmers 86); Ibrahim (Atajic 70)Irvine, McGregor; P. Twardzik (Slane 58) Rasmuseen, Watt Not Used: Daniels PARTICK THISTLE (4-3-3) Fox; O'Donnell (Balatoni 73), Muirhead, Archibald, Sinclair (Welsh 30); Paton, Murray, Brannigan; Lawless (Craigan 62), Elliot (McGuigan 62), Erskine (Doolan 62) Not Used: Wightman, Halsam

Given that a 100K black hole is about to materialise on our balance sheet courtesy of our lodgers I feel we really have to maximise what we get from the sale of Sinclair and make sure we get a deal that gives us a seizable percentage of any sell on fee.

Brilliant result!!

Dools obliged

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL Jags

"Could be wrong but it was a Sunday, and in those days we didn't feck about with minor league opposition ." Changed days indeed

We're Thistle ! How could they fail Gut feeling was that it was 6-1

Willijag, I'm certain we scored six, we don't score six very often so it kind of sticks in the memory when we do, not sure if we conceded or not. Also sure Joe Craig was playing, if Alan Hansen was playing it must have been early in his Jags career. It was my first ever Sunday game so it was a real novelty. Football was so much more enjoyable back then

I was working my way back towards Ferranti but my rant ran out of steam. I'm old enough to have seen all three incarnations of franchise united. Was it 1974 we played Ferranti Thistle in the cup? Game was played on a Sunday with an early kick off due to possible power cuts due to strikes. I think we won6-1 or 6-0 Lifetime ago

That's exactly why it worried me. There was a situation in the first half when a ball was played through for the livi forward to chase, the ball would easily have reached Fox in the penalty area way, way, before the Meadowbank forward got anywhere near it but Fox nevertheless came charging out of his area to miscue a clearance out of the park when he could simply have stood his ground and picked the ball up unchallenged. A sure sign of lack of confidence

Did anyone else think Scott Fox looked helluva nervous and unsure today. He had me worried throughout

I think the best we can hope for is an across the board price reduction for the replay but I don't know if Culter would have a say in this or not

Simply awful! For 70 minutes we were out thought, out fought and pretty much outplayed. Our passing was woeful, every Thistle player in possession was closed down instantaneously and they simply couldn't handle it. Things only started to improve once Erskine, who was woeful and Elliot, who wasn't much better, were replaced by O'Donnell and Stewart. O'Donnell especially made a big difference with his running at the County defense. Quite frankly the changes should have been made half an hour earlier and then we might just have nicked something from this game. Only bright spot for me today was the form of Ryan Scully who proved categorically that last week wasn't a fluke. Off to drown my sorrows