Sivad

Great stuff. First time I had seen the goal from that angle. We were probably lucky to get away with a 0-1 defeat against a higher class team, Pires and all, but McWilliams should have equalised when he hit the post. Some outstanding work by the defence, and Nicky Walker in particular, kept the score down. Huge turn-out of Thistle fans, who kept up a constant vocal support before, during, and after the match, their presence much appreciated by the home fans. I remember the incident with the bonsai plant. A tall guy with spiky fair hair, he had a young lad with him on the bus, a nephew I think, whom he bullied for most of the way, until some of the fans got fed up and held him down to let the boy give him a kicking! It may have been at the same service station where one lad, possibly on his first time away from Maryhill, produced a Royal Bank of Scotland £1 note to pay for his meal, to the bafflement of the cashier. Also remember the expression on the face of one traveller when he gave up trying to catch up on his sleep at 6am on the cross channel ferry in the face of a chorus of Thistle songs; the intense heat, even with an evening kick-off; the French police appearing after midnight at the bar hosting the post-match party in the station square, and being persuaded by the staff to go away and leave us in peace. It would be great to see another generation get the chance to support the team abroad. But we were lucky to be drawn against Metz, a town closer to Calais than Glasgow is to Dover. Don't fancy Armenia.

Sad to report the death of John Kilkie, Thistle supporter for over 40 years after converting from Celtic, veteran of Mansfield and Metz. A former season ticket holder, John used to travel to away matches on the City Centre Supporters Club bus. It was last October that John was told that he had two months to live. It says much for his courage that, with the support of health service staff, he continued to live in his flat in Maryhill Road until he was forced to move a few weeks ago to the Marie Curie Hospice at Stobhill Hospital, where he died last week. While battling his illness, John retained his sense of humour to the end. The last game he was able to attend at Firhill was the cup tie with Hamilton Academical in November. When the North Stand started singing “If you want to go to heaven when you die …”, he exclaimed “that’s my song!”. John is survived by his daughter Lynne and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him in and around Firhill.

Fitness does indeed appear to be a problem. The repeated loss of late goals is one symptom. Yesterday we had a situation where the home team scored to get back to 1-2 against the team at the bottom of the league. Normally this would be the scenario for the away team to drop deeper in defence, and the home team to pile on the pressure in search of an equaliser. Instead, what we saw was the away team totally dominating the match for the final 20 minutes, scored once and could have had more, while the home team defended desperately to keep the score down. Extra training this week.

This is the start of the third round of matches, the next three fixtures being a repeat of games played early in the season. On that basis, one point would be an improvement.

Only an illegal act stopped Donnie McKinnon from being ineligible for this thread by scoring a second goal. It was in a cup tie at Dens Park. Thistle were 1-0 down going into the last minute when they won a corner. Up came big Donnie to outjump everyone else when the ball came over. His header was going straight into the top corner when a defender leapt up with not one, but two hands to push the ball onto the bar, and it rebounded into play. Play on, said the blind referee. As the Thistle players surrounded him, Dundee broke away and almost scored at the other end. Some things never change.

Apologies for my big head in front of the camera after the first goal went in. But it certainly was worth standing up for.

Asked if he thought Tommy Craig could turn things around at St Mirren, Owen Coyle replied, "I hope so ...". So, Owen, if you hope that St Mirren can avoid relegation, who do you hope will take their place in the bottom two? No prizes for guessing the answer to that one.

Real treat for Duggan coming up. The draw for the Scottish Cup 2nd round has Queens Park against Gretna 2008 - at Raydale Park.

Went to the Who Do You Think You Are Live exhibition at the SECC on Friday and Saturday. Fascinating stuff for anyone with an interest in family history. Friday's crowd included a highly visible Jags fan, wearing a broad striped Red and Yellow football strip, and sporting a Partick Thistle tattoo on his arm.

Thistle took four off Ross County, who only lost by a last minute goal to Dundee United, who gubbed Aberdeen 3-0 at Pittodrie. What's the problem? Aberdeen lost home and away to Real Sociedad in the Europa League qualifiers. Well, what do expect, Real Sociedad are a top class team, aren't they? Except, this week they lost in the next round to Krasnodar. No, I haven't heard of them, either.

Look what happened to Brazil when they had two key players unavailable. I'd hate to think what might happen if we were to lose our left back and our best striker. Uh-oh.

We now have two important players on loan "till the end of the season". Will their clubs be expecting them back after the last league game, or will Taylor and Erskine be available for the playoffs?

What about the season when Gerry Collins was manager? Thistle didn't win a league match until after Collins was sacked in December.

Reason I remember this match is that Haig Gordon, chairman of St. Cuthbert Wanderers and a Scottish selector in the days before managers had that responsibility, was killed in a road accident that night on his way home to Kirkcudbright. South of Scotland League teams still play for the Haig Gordon Cup, in his memory.

Seem to remember Kilmarnock beating Eintracht Frankfurt in the 60s, 5-1 at Rugby Park after losing the first leg 3-0. Think Eintracht scored first in the second leg, leaving Kilmarnock needing five goals to win, which they got.

There's still a chance that the pyramid system could be introduced as early as next season. So if Hearts were to go bust over the summer, their local derby next season could be against Spartans in the new Lowland League.

Annan Athletic website reports friendlies "pencilled in" - Tuesday 16th July - Partick Thistle at Galabank

Now confirmed, Mancini sacked exactly one year after his team won the Premier League title. How soon.

The Aragon in Byres Road is advertising its live TV matches for tomorrow. 4.10 pm: QPR v Wigan Athletic.

Looking at the weather and the forecast, what are the odds against an August postponement?

I think this answers the question about the Main Stand. In trying to predict the crowd size, you have to take into account the context in which the match is being played. This is no midweek November friendly in the middle of a run of more important games. It is the first realistic chance for football-starved fans of both sides to see their team for some time, on a Saturday afternoon in summer. There seems to be plenty of interest in Thistle's game at Blyth - perhaps 200 fans might be travelling? That would be 10% of the average crowd at Firhill for most of the last season. 10% of Celtic's home crowd would be 6,000. Making the game all-ticket is a sensible way of avoiding the public relations disaster that would result from fans having to be refused entry to the match.

Along with Partick Thistle and St. Mirren, Raith Rovers invested money in bringing their ground up to 10,000 seats, in order to comply with the SPL's requirements at the time. They chose to do this rather than try to buy success by giving players higher wages than the club could afford, unlike some other clubs. At least Thistle and St. Mirren got a shot a the SPL for their money, Raith Rovers never did. Perhaps until now. It could be a good occasion, anyway, with the chance of the highest crowd of the season, which can't be bad. Raith could be expected to bring a large away support, maybe even including a former prime minister. If Thistle can maintain their current good form, then we could expect an above average turnout of home fans also, hoping to see the team put down a marker for next season.

Indeed, it looks as though there might be a hygiene problem at Firhill. This latest outbreak has possibly cost Thistle a place in the quarter finals of the Cup, and four points in the league. Over at Murrayfield, Scotland star Richie Gray, who plays for Glasgow Warriors, was unable to turn out for Scotland against Wales, due to a stomach bug. I wonder where he picked that up? So a local embarrassment becomes a national one. It's certainly not the first time this has happened. Mark Roberts was never the same player after throwing up on the touchline at Dens Park. The following week, Thistle could not even raise a team, and had to get their match with St Johnstone called off. In this case, St Johnstone were the losers when the match was eventually played, a result which arguably cost them the championship. As a result, Gretna went up, to make a fool of Scottish football in their year in the top flight. Time to get the dressing rooms steam cleaned!

Indeed, I don't think Thistle have ever been absent when the draw including the top teams was made. Which made the third round draw all the more worrying, coming just after a 4-2 league defeat on the same ground. Nearest to not making it in past years was probably when Tommy Bryce's team, arguably the worst ever to represent Thistle, was drawn away to Arbroath in the first round, again just a couple of weeks after losing a league match there. Like today, a change in the goalkeeping position helped, with Kenny Arthur being recalled. Despite having three players sent off, Thistle held on for a 2-1 victory.

Let's not forget, a team can still get relegated by finishing ninth in the table. Ok, we might beat Brechin City in the play-offs, but I'd rather not see it happen.