A Look Back at the Season

So another football season is consigned to the pages of the history books.

Season 2011-2012 wasn’t a vintage season for Partick Thistle. A sixth place league finish was one spot below last season’s, although the points tally remained the same. The cup campaigns meantime brought plenty of angst but little joy. 

Despite being involved neither at the top end of the division or, thankfully, at the bottom it was, as always, a season of highs, lows and frustrations.

The final game of the season at Hamilton was in many ways a microcosm of the season as a whole. Thistle played at times some excellent football but ended up with just a single point, rather than the three that the performance undoubtedly merited. This is why there is a distinct sense of frustration when it comes to analysing the events of the last 9 months or so.

So what of the highs?

Firhill and a visit of then, but not for much longer, league leaders Morton was selected by the SFL as part of an experiment into Friday evening football. It was a night that could scarcely have gone any better for Thistle. No fewer than five different Thistle players got on the score sheet that night as Thistle ran out emphatic 5-0 winners.

Christie Elliott scores one of the five v Morton (pic by Tommy Taylor)

There was a real sense of excitement and anticipation after that result but there was no fixture the following week and when Thistle did return to action the momentum had been lost slightly and they lost 2-0 at Raith Rovers while producing a pretty insipid display. 

Dens Park hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for Thistle in previous seasons. This season not one but two victories were recorded. Given the events of previous visits there, there was a distinct sense of Karma when Thistle won 1-0 in October thanks to hotly contested penalty converted by Paul Cairney. 

Dundee couldn’t claim any injustice at the end of April. Paul Cairney missed, and scored, a penalty that afternoon and bagged all three Thistle goals in the 3-0 win, becoming the first Thistle player in many a long year to score a hat-trick.

What's the score? (Pic by Tommy Taylor)

Other highlights?

David Rowson’s goal that gave Thistle a 1-0 lead at Morton in December;  and Kris Doolan’s late winner in the same game.

Goal of the season though would have to be Paul Cairney’s chip at Falkirk. A sublime finish from a player who looks destined to be playing his football at a ground other than Firhill next season.

A 5-0 win over Queen of the South at Palmerston was every bit as easy as the score suggested.

Mark McGuigan was a late arrival, signing in March but his goal celebrations at Ayr United, immortalised on youtube, quickly endeared him to the Thistle fans.

The lows?

Well, they could come under two categories, cup games and Raith Rovers matches.

It’s almost beyond belief that Thistle managed just 1 point from a possible 12 against Raith Rovers, and in that statistic probably lies the reason why Thistle didn’t finish above 6^th position. Every time Thistle played Rovers they seemed to find a new and imaginative way to lose, including a Rovers propelling the ball into the net with his hand.

When Thistle did, finally, get a point against Rovers they generously contributed the Rovers goal in a 1-1 draw themselves. 

As for the cup games, well the thought of the Berwick Rangers game still brings me out in a cold sweat. Culter on the other hand is something best discussed in therapy. Thankfully that all worked out in the end but when Archie, a real hero of mine, passed across his own 18 yard box straight to a Culter player with the score at 1-1 and with just minutes left, time stood still.

Culter - Sedatives please (pic by Tommy Taylor)

Enough of the past, on with the future which I think is bright for Thistle.

Instilling a mental toughness and a real belief in their own abilities is the number one priority for manager Jackie McNamara. If he can do that, bring in two, maybe three, new players then there is no reason why we can’t be there or thereabouts next season.

I’m excited just thinking about it. Roll on August.

C’mon The Jags.