Thistle held in Freuchie stalemate

Freuchie............................1

On the back of a 15-0 drubbing of Portmoak and an excellent performance in a 3-0 win against Lomond Victoria in midweek, Thistle went into this league match full of confidence.

But in the 39th minute Freuchie took the lead with their first shot on goal when Cassells took advantage of indecision in the Thistle defence to prod a well delivered corner low into the net.

Shepherd was given an opportunity to pull his side level when he latched onto an excellent ball from Gough, but he took too long to get his shot off allowing Redpath to put in the challenge resulting in a fruitless corner.

There were half chances for Moir and Barnes, but both were easily dealt with by Warrender.

It was far from one way traffic, though, with the visitors posting a threat.

At the other end Henderson pulled off an excellent save to deny a dipping shot from Kelly that looked bound for the top corner.

With time running out Thistle were pushing forward in numbers and it took an outstanding save from Warrender to deny Shepherd as he tipped the wingers effort round the post at full stretch.

A minute into stoppage time Thistle finally grabbed an equaliser when Shepherd delivered a quality corner into the danger zone and Gorgon rose to power home a header at the back post.

Thistle chased an undeserved winner, but time was against them as they had to settle for a share of the spoils after a poor performance all round.

Alba Mortgage Solutions man of the match – Mark Gorgon.

Thistle – Henderson, Ireland (Munro 65), Gorgon, Carson, Gough, Shepherd, McLaren (Bell 75), McArthur, Band (Brown 62), Barnes, Moir (Petrie 75)

Subs – Ross, Jones.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Thistle play host to Auchtermuchty Bellvue in the league with a 2pm kick off at Balmullo.