partickthedog

With a name like Baptiste he would be ideal for the Scottish climate. Used to getting soaked all over.

I suppose Mandron's got appeal, is used to a white change strip, has plenty of juice in the tank, but tends to play only in segments.

TJR, a competitive fixture is one in which the fans go nut if Thistle score, jumping in the air if seated or moving around excitedly if already standing. If we stay in the same place and clap politely, that's a friendly.

If Scott Fox had not let Dundee"s shot for their 3rd goal go through his body, we would be top of the league.

Every time I see this goal it gets better. The BBC highlights showed that Lawless was involved in the early part of the move at the half way line before linking again at the edge of the box. Loved the way he slid after the ball following his first slightly heavy touch to make sure he got there first to divert it to Erskine.

1) Even though Ziggy won the ball, it was a tackle from the rear, so by strict letter of the law, no complaints about a yellow. Given that it was the first serious challenge only 3 minutes in, maybe a referee with a bit more flexibility and understanding than yesterday's robot might have issued a strong warning first. 2) ICT player not booked on that occasion and in general they had to work a lot harder to get themselves into the book than our players did. 3) Sorry you couldn't make it, but hopefully you will be at Firhill for more good matches (and wins) as the season progresses.

The first goal was a brilliant team move topped off by a sublime finish from Erskine. Booth and Lawless were the chief "assisters", but the move went back several passes even before Booth got on the ball. I was going to downgrade the second goal as a bit of a sclaff, but in its own way it was a fine team effort as well. Welsh accurate free kick, Osman excellent header across, Lindsay does well to divert the ball goalwards, and Amoo feeds off the scraps. 4 players all doing good work. A spectacular goal from open play and a scramble into the net from a set piece. I can see us scoring many more of both types of goal than we seemed capable of doing last season.

Dundee have sneaked to the top by virtue of more goals scored, having won 3-1

Have tried to make use of the WiFi but my attempt has been dismissed. I admit that I have only been following Thistle regularly for 20 years. Do I not qualify as s PTFC Supporter?

Pretty even and disjointed game. Erskine goal was brilliant team move and great finish. One of the few moments of quality.

Stuart Cosgrove on Off the Ball this morning was lamenting that St Johnstone had lost "all twelve" points to Thistle last season.

Cerny Gordon Devine Lindsay Booth Welsh Edwards Amoo Erskine Lawless Doolan

A flirtation from 1974-77 (attending Firhill as one of a group of school friends which included one really keen supporter). Following from a distance 1977-96 (watching for the Thistle result and hoping they had won, but not much more than that). Total bonkers commitment 1996-date (every competitive match home and away last season). I could try to make a case for 42 but as a real diehard Jag I can only properly justify 20. The kids were sports minded and collecting football stickers and talking about going to a game. To ensure that they would not follow one of the Old Firm, I decided to take them myself to Firhill. It was a dismal winter's day (Saturday 10th February 1996) and an even worse game. Kilmarnock were awarded a penalty after just 2 minutes, which Tom Black slotted away. Thistle (including Big Jim Slavin) huffed and puffed, but never looked like equalising. A dire spectacle, but we loved it and bought into this peculiarly frustrating football club and slowly built up the frequency of our attendance and soon embraced travelling to away games as well. We could not be accused of being glory hunters. It was not until deep into the following season that we witnessed our first victory, 3-0 v Falkirk, with Ian McCall playing a cameo role. Our introduction was in the dark days of decline which makes us appreciate all the more the subsequent promotions and other successes. Peter Lindau's hat-trick at Forthbank, Andy Gibson's winner at Dens Park and Shaggy's at Inverness on nights of driving rain and high drama, Billy Gibson's free kick at Peterhead and the later pitch invasion, Gary Harkins looks one way, passes the other at Ibrox, James Craigan scoring in front of a packed North Stand v Morton, Chris Erskine slicing through the Falkirk defence, Kris Doolan beating the Hibs rearguard singlehanded, Gary Fraser's and Kalum Higginbotham's goals against Hearts, the team move finished off by Steven O'Donnell at Tannadice, Banzo keeping the ball just about singlehanded for 10 minutes in Perth to see out the victory. Legendary moments and with our current array of attacking talent, many more to look forward to...

I am trying to think which footballers could work for CM Accountants and apart from the generic Centre Midfielder, the only name that strikes me is Colin McMenamin. There must be a Thistle CM somewhere.

I like Derek Ferguson's enthusiasm for the game at all levels and he knows the names and abilities of players at clubs like Thistle and Hamilton. He may not be the most incisive and intellectual pundit, but you get the impression that he enjoys and enters into the spirit of every game to which he is assigned and is not thinking "I am a big time and big team Charlie who should not be forced to be here",

Did anyone else see that first goal and think right away of Daley Blind and Robin Van Persie and Holland"s equaliser against Spain in the World Cup?

At least Archie will not be tempted to repeat the disastrous experiment of deploying three experienced centre backs in a cup tie at Tannadice.....as we do not have three experienced centre backs.

We will unleash Chris Erskine upon them!

Presumably he was posted overseas

Most of us are no doubt so used to listening to football commentaries and pre and post match interviews on the radio that we automatically translate what we hear into what we know is the actual meaning. Here are a few examples with the statement in bold and the translation in italics. I am sure that fellow posters can add many more. The ball zipped about on the slick surface. It was raining. They play in a certain way. The other team hoof the ball up the park at every opportunity. Their manager will have them well organised. They will be the most boring team on the planet. We like to get the ball down and play. We are not very good at passing the ball to each other, but we do try and do this occasionally. We lacked quality in the final third. The forwards, wingers and attacking midfielders I signed are all equally useless. We lacked that little bit of guile. None of my players has got any imagination. We totally dominated the game. Play was fairly even. The clean sheet was the most important thing. I would prefer to draw a game nil-nil than win 3-2.

I am in the same boat. Was also buying for my non-season ticket holder daughter who is back in Glasgow for the holidays, so I know I have to go to the ticket office anyway, but I wonder whether I will be offered a paper ticket or told that I do not need anything as it will be on the season card. I hope that I do not have to climb the hill twice! Interesting Great Glasgow Alliance car load coming to the game today. Daughter and me (Jags fans) plus neighbour and son (Queens Park fans) and neighbour's son's friend (Thistle fan)!

Martin Hardie (definitely) ! Lindsay Hamilton (not so sure) ? I also have on the edge of my memory, a young player who seemed to have a great future but went off the rails slightly-Gavin Rushford or a similar name ??

You must be on Macleod 9

Should you not be sitting on the fence rather than seeing both sides of it? Sitting may be rather uncomfortable but at least you will not strain your eyes.

Thank you TJR. My gut feeling was right about 1998, and I should not have wobbled when I remembered the return of Willie Jamieson and Sammy Johnston. Without them the goals track record would have been dire indeed. I was totally wrong about 2000 although those who were to become legends such as Hardie, Lennon, Lindau and McLean had relatively modest starting totals. I do not recall Cameron, Dunn, McWilliams and Stirling lasting long into the season (no window then!) and my recollection is that Shaw joined us mid-season. Therefore the goals total may have dropped substantially before the legends got into their stride. I am hopeless on years but the Ayr game at Somerset I was remembering was immediately after Mark Roberts left us. I believe it was the third season of being back in the First Division (the second season under Ian McCall) and Jonny Tuffey was our established Number 1. He made a poor clearance which Roberts punished with aplomb by a curling finish from near the half way line. Doolan had yet to join us and Harkins was not yet a regular scorer. The only player with a fair tally to his name would have been Liam Buchanan, but even with a handful of goals for others, I do not think that they would have matched Marko's total.