Fossoway 1-2 Fife Thistle

Thistle set off like a freight train and with little over two minutes gone took the lead when Cameron and Jukes combined well before the latter sent the ball wide to Barnes who provided a deft finish.

Thistle were rampant going forward and after 20 minutes they were rewarded for their continued pressure when a cross into the box was spilled by Beggs and Petrie netted

The home side reduced the deficit after 27 minutes when former St Andrews United striker Jeffrey showed some fine skill to carve his way through the Thistle defence and fire low past the outstretched Anderson.

If Thistle had dominated a majority of the opening half then the second period was role reversal as Fossoway came out of the traps with their tails up and again Thistle had Anderson to thank as he produced another good stop minutes after the restart.

As the match entered the last 10 minutes Petrie almost killed the tie off when a Fossoway attack broke down allowing Barnes to steal possession before combining with Jukes to put Petrie through on the keeper but Beggs produced a good block from the big striker.

Thistle held strong for a deserved win with their reward being a semi-final tie away to AM Soccer.

Alba Mortgage Solutions Man of the Match – Dan McArthur.

Thistle – Anderson, Ireland, Carson, McArthur, Gough, Jukes, Thomson, Gorgon (Ross 64), Cameron (Shepherd 58), Barnes, Petrie.

Subs not used – Kirk, Murray, Hamilton.

On Saturday Thistle travel to face AM Soccer Reserves in group D of the Tom McIntyre Memorial Cup.