partickthedog

OK. Less than 24 hours to go till kick off, so I will bite. What do folk think about the game tomorrow?

Surely that has to be Jim Duffy (based on his current appearance and then subtracting 40 years. He actually has not changed that much).

That is a brilliant article, diligent research and a fun and fact filled read. Congratulations to the Thistle Archive and of course to Brian Graham. I must confess that when signed I thought that he was a journeyman pro who might give us a couple of years of reasonable end of career service, progressively moving more and more to the bench. Glad to have been proved totally wrong.

That is absolutely fantastic. Great work and brilliant memories. I especially like it when a non-standard goal scorer made a special habit of banging them in against a particular team. Step forward Scott Chaplain for his Hogan against Clyde in 2007-2008!

I can also remember Brian apparently scoring 3 away to Inverness in a 3-3 draw a couple of seasons back. I presume that one of them must have been re-assessed as an own goal.

Compliments to both teams for producing a reasonably exciting game with a bit of quality here and there despite the difficult windy conditions. Not sure how only 2 goals were scored. Both teams struck the woodwork at least twice and there were numerous saves, blocks and goal line clearances. Draw a very fair result. I agree that we need to find a better way of managing the game towards the end. Rather too many rushed clearances and general turnovers of possession. Although I had selected Stanway over McInroy, Kris Doolan had other ideas, and to be fair McInroy was our best player in the first half. Milne was excellent throughout.

I am presuming that it will be the same team as last week. The only debate would seem to be as to whether Stanway retains his place or McInroy comes back in. For all sorts of reasons my preference would be for Stanway. He was a little rusty in the early part of last week’s match, but came on to a good game after that, and I think that it would be beneficial to maintain that momentum. At least McInroy should be able to make a more positive impact off the bench than Alston managed. Muirhead came across well on the podcast, but is clearly carrying an injury, and one wonders how long that can continue. It would be helpful if O’Reilly and Williams could come back into the picture sooner rather than later.

Could we borrow your ship to cross the Forth? Might inspire us to our Forth win in a row. Apologies. Coat fetched.

Last week was my first match thread start for this season, and resulted in a steady win. Cannot remember when my debut was.

No one dares to suggest that Kris Doolan might perhaps be a better manager than Ian McCall and/or possibly had a smaller budget than Raith Rovers in case they trigger a repetitive mega-thread.

Sign him!

A supplementary question, which as Fawlty says, maybe Tom Hosie or others more well informed about the women's team can answer. In the first part of the season, more than half of our games are against teams "on our level", ie part-time. I am certainly not saying that these are easy games, they obviously are very competitive and the results are usually very close, even though we come out on top a commendable number of times. Is it easier physically and psychologically for the team to raise themselves to take on the challenge of playing the full-time or hybrid teams, when these games are interspersed with games against our fellow part-time teams? I can imagine that having to reach up a level for ten games in a row is a bit like having to sit a tough exam every week, ie it begins to wear you down.

Which in a perverse sort of way works in our favour. He does enough good things often enough to be on balance an asset for us at our level. If he did these good things on a far more frequent and reliable basis, he would be playing at a much higher level. Presumably Norwich thought that based on his ability he had at least the potential to be an English Championship player.

Others have already commented on how we failed to take advantage of the extra man. One specific question I have is as regards defending corners and also free kicks near our box. Why did we bring everyone back and invite more pressure onto ourselves? Even to have had one player upfield would have forced Inverness most likely to withdraw two of their own players to guard against a potential breakaway. PS Spandau got there first!

Woodstock Jag will not be happy that we have been forced to increase the alphabetical spread of the first letters of the team surnames. However, in the absence of McInroy, I think that bringing in Stanway is the best choice.

McInroy out means at least one change to the starting 11. As Banzo is also out, the obvious (to me) choice is Stanway who has been unlucky to have less game time recently. The alternative might be Alston. However I think that Stanway. would be more involved in the game and I can see him combining well with Neilson. Keep the McBeth Muirhead centre back partnership.

Not quite sure if this is the best thread for this (not worth opening one specially), but as it relates to the squad, I will put it in here. A friend of mine is an East Fife supporter and when emailing me about something else he added the following: East Fife are doing well just now, with 4 wins & 3 draws in their last 7 matches. I wanted to let you know that we saw the best of James Lyon at last week’s game against Stranraer. He played really well & scored our opening goal in a 2-1 victory. It’s taken him a while to settle into our squad (quite understandably so) but it was very good to see his drive & confidence on the ball finally coming to the fore. Hopefully James will kick on from here.

Only 24 hours to go to kick off, so I will pluck up courage and open the match thread. Hopefully it is not too early. If I understand mathematical progressions, after progressive score lines v Inverness this season of 0-0, 1-1 and 3-3, the score on Saturday should be 6-6. I would take that, but only if we are 0-6 down with 5 minutes to go, and mount an epic comeback. Of course by that time everybody else will have walked out in disgust, and Auld Jag and I will be the only fans left in the John Lambie Stand to witness this.

I have not seen Barton”s social media post and I do not want to see it, but would he not have been better raving about Rachel Donaldson’s wonder strike. I suspect that he will not have scored a better goal than that in his rather up and down football career. Back to Ava Easdon. From my excellent vantage point high in the stand, the gap left for the first goal looked obvious. I am sure that it is not so easy on the ground when you realise that your whole defence has abandoned you and there is no option but to come rushing out trying all the time to protect your near post (which Ava managed successfully!). Beyond that I cannot remember any significant mistakes. I do recall a brave save at the feet of a Rangers attacker, as a result of which Ava had to receive treatment. Absolutely no chance with the 2nd and 4th goals. For the 3rd she had the shall I stay or shall I go dilemma when the Rangers forward outpaced the defence and came through centrally one on one. In the end she came and the attacker poked the ball past her. I do not think that staying would have produced any better outcome. After the 4th goal she adopted Gandalf’s “You shall not pass” declaration from the Bridge of Khazad-dum and kept the Rangers Balrog at bay for 40 minutes with some excellent saves, including from a few high net bound efforts. So, taken in the round, a creditable performance on a challenging day, and a cause for praise and encouragement rather than excessive criticism. Ava Easdon, we salute you!

Very positive start and really took the game to Rangers early on. Strong tackling to win the ball back and putting together some good moves. Did appear to be pressing quite high up the park which left the huge gap for the first goal. Came back brilliantly with Rachel's equaliser. After about half an hour the pace and snap seemed to gradually decline and from then on we found it difficult to retain possession for any great length of time. No doubt that was when the difference between full and part time training was beginning to tell. Agree that the timing of the third goal was really deflating. Half-time at 1-2 could have been the springboard for renewed momentum in the second half. As it was Rangers scored the fourth soon after the interval. From that time on it was backs to the wall, but a spirited defensive performance not to concede further. The team did themselves and Thistle proud. Their spectacular over-achievement this season is worthy of tremendous credit.

Would be only fair to balance that by saying that there was not a lot Ava could have done about the other goals and that she made some great saves, especially in the second half. Indeed, even though obviously tiring, the whole team did really well to keep Rangers out for the last 40 minutes of the game.

Arrived in Edinburgh and looking forward to this. Come on the PTFC Women!

Good to see James Lyon scoring for East Fife today.

In the second half we were much more on top than we were in the first half. Several near things and a mix of bad luck and lack of clinical finishing. Made last 5 minutes rather more nervous than they should have been.

Arbroath had a few dangerous attacks early on, and Mitchell made a good save. Thistle gradually got on top. Some great Lawless McMillan moves, and McBeth again outstanding at the back. Excellent run and shot from Fitzy for the goal, but celebration seemed a bit delayed. Were there some deflections along the way? 1-0 at halftime is fair reflection of the play. Game certainly not over yet. Would like to see another goal or three.