Errors cost Thistle dearly in cup loss

Kirkcaldy..........................5

Thistle faced Premier League Kirkcaldy in the first round of the Peter Omand Cup at Balmullo.

Thistle were in confident mood having disposed of Leslie Hearts in the league during midweek with a thumping 6-1 win goals coming from a Jim Gough hat-trick and goals from Ronnie Barnes, Kris Ireland and Rory Shepherd.

The visitors gained the upper hand when Carson completely mis-kicked his attempted clearance allowing Hatton to steal possession and slip the ball past Henderson one on one.

Kirkcaldy doubled their advantage and again it was an error from the normally reliable Carson with Sutherland stealing possession before sending Arbuckle through on the ‘keeper.

Thistle got themselves back into the tie when Foulkes picked out Barnes whose turn and shot found the bottom corner.

With 18 minutes to go Kirkcaldy made it 3-1 and again it was a Thistle error that was the catalyst when Gorgon repeated the error from Carson by getting caught in possession just outside the box and again Hatton made Thistle pay by sticking the ball past Henderson.

Just four minutes later Thistle were all but out of the cup when Hatton and Sutherland combined well to get in behind the Thistle defence where the latter finished.

Deep into stoppage time Kirkcaldy rubbed salt into the Thistle wounds with a fifth goal.

An error strewn performance from Thistle and although the result was possibly not a fair reflection the better side won on the day as Thistle slumped to their first defeat of the 2016/17 season.

Man of the match – Gavin Henderson.

Thistle – Henderson, Ireland, Mark Gorgon, Carson (Marc Gorgon 60), Gough, McShane (Munro 70), McArthur (Capt.), Foulkes, Thomson (Laing 82), Barnes, Petrie.

Subs – Anderson, Walker.

On Saturday Thistle host to Freuchie at 2pm.