Whistle was a blessing to weary Thistle

JIM REYNOLDS

16 May 1994

PARTICK Thistle and Hearts, for so long involved in the desperate struggle to avoid relegation, both live to fight in the premier division another day following their final league match of the season at Firhill on Saturday.

Both sides knew that a point each would keep them up, so it was little surprise that caution was to the fore, although the Thistle fans were left to squirm during the closing stages when Alan McLaren scored what proved to be the winner.

As it was, the Firhill side hung on to their top division status by virtue of a marginally better goal difference and the applause at the end must surely have been for efforts over the rest of the season.

The final whistle was music to the ears.

Thistle manager John Lambie joked that he had avoided a sleepless night on Friday by downing a bottle of the hard stuff before going to bed.

I wish I had done the same before going to the match.

Lambie did, however, blame himself for tactics which could only lead to boredom.

"I stopped players like Albert Craig going into the box.

I knew that even if we lost 1-0, St Johnstone would have to beat Motherwell 3-0 to put us down and I couldn't see that happening.

"It's not the way we would have liked to secure our place in the premier division, but for us to have gathered 40 points with the squad I have is magnificent."

Hearts seemed to step up a gear near the end and won a corner on the left.

John Robertson sent it into the penalty area and Alan McLaren came racing in to send a flashing header past Andy Murdoch.

Less than a minute later, Mo Johnston almost did the same, but it was all too little, too late.

On the plus side, was the performance from Hearts full back Stephen Frail.

Just watch this young man progress next season.

To give the Thistle fans a happy note on which to end, I ask this question.

Mark Hateley, Ally McCoist, Eoin Jess, Duncan Shearer and Roddy Grant are all premier division strikers, but who is the odd man out?

Answer: Roddy Grant, the 27-year-old Gloucester born striker, is the only player to have scored a hat trick in a premier division match this season, the first time since reconstruction in 1975 only one hat trick has been scored in a league season.

Grant, who joined Thistle from Dunfermline last summer, enjoyed his big moment back in October when he scored three in a 4-1 win over St Johnstone.

Taken from the Herald