Confident Thistle cruise to a home victory at the Haughs
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Turriff Thistle 4 - Aboyne 1
Turriff Thistle secured their first home victory of the season, at the third attempt, with a confident, clinical and controlled display against Aboyne at the Haughs.
Two goals from Michael Harris gave the Jags a well-deserved half-time lead which was doubled in the second half, first by Harris again, to complete his hattrick, then by
Kian Beaton with another spectacular, long-range, looping shot that fairly zipped into the top corner.
Thistle’s afternoon was spoiled, however, when Aboyne produced their own spectacular strike, similar to Beaton’s, as the match went into added-on time, to take the shine out of the overall performance.
The Jags lined up minus Steven Wight who is nursing an achilles injury, Joe Bisset with an ankle injury, Lee Stuart after a minor foot operation and Ryan Catto, Jonny Buist and Joe Stephen who were unavailable.
Mike McCombie moved back from midfield to partner James Mackintosh in the centre of defence alongside Callan Reid at right back and Kian Beaton returned at left back.
Mitchell Allan and Greg Miazek also returned to start in midfield with Dylan Buxton and a front three of Nathan Fraser, Michael Harris and Regan Fowlie remained in place from the match on Wednesday.
A depleted squad saw Bruce Mair and Glen Morrison, joined by the injured Steven Wight, veteran striker, Paul Williamson returning to help out and last-minute trialist Eythin Duncan making up the subs bench.
Thistle kicked off on the front foot, immediately pushing Aboyne back, and were rewarded after only three minutes when Miazek picked the ball up in midfield and cruised past two defenders before slipping HARRIS through to beat the keeper at his near post and take an early lead.
The Jags maintained this pressure and in seven minutes Miazek played the ball wide right to Fraser whose brilliant first-time ball put Harris through again but play was halted for offside.
Aboyne were finding it difficult to get out of their own half as Thistle swarmed all over them and in 10 minutes a superb long ball forward from Buxton found Harris free again but his fierce shot from the right was brilliantly tipped round the post at full stretch by the keeper.
In 20 minutes another cross from the right by Fraser was met in the middle by Harris but his shot was blocked before Miazek curled the rebound narrowly over the bar.
In 28 minutes Fowlie burst through the middle and slipped the ball to Fraser before he was tackled from behind.
The referee waved play on and Fraser’s shot brought another finger-tip save from the Aboyne keeper.
Thistle doubled their lead in 31 minutes when Fowlie again found space in the middle and a beautiful through-ball put HARRIS in the clear behind the defence to shoot low into the corner of the net.
In 39 minutes Beaton had a go when he cut in from the left past two defenders but his shot drifted past the post.
Aboyne had a chance to cut the deficit to one in 42 minutes when they broke through the Jags defence from the left. The final shot beat Ogg and was heading for the net when Miazek appeared from nowhere with an acrobatic goal-line clearance.
The final action of the first half saw Buxton find Fraser on the right but his diagonal shot flashed past the back post.
The second half was only minutes old before Morrison replaced Buxton who was feeling unwell and had to call it a day.
Thistle continued with their constant pressure and in 53 minutes Miazek drove forward, gliding past three defenders with ease, but was tackled from behind twice before the referee brought play to a halt, however, the free kick was squandered when it was fired over the Aboyne bar.
A second substitution for the Jags in 57 minutes saw Mair come on for Fraser.
The Jags added a third on the hour mark when Allan strode forward past three defenders before slipping the ball to HARRIS who completed his hattrick with a fierce shot into the corner of the net.
Aboyne created their second chance of the match in 64 minutes when they broke free behind the Jags defence but Ogg was off his line quickly and brilliantly blocked the shot.
In 67 minutes Williamson came on to replace Fowlie who had been kicked to pieces for the entire match and he made an immediate impact when his low cross from the left was blasted narrowly past the post by Mackintosh.
Duncan made his Thistle debut in 75 minutes when he replaced Miazek who had also been on the wrong end of some rough tackles throughout the match.
The Jags added a fourth goal in 80 minutes with another wonder-strike from BEATON who drove up the left, played a neat one-two with Harris, before smashing a high, dipping shot that soared over the keeper into the top corner of the net.
Thistle still went in search of more and in 86 minutes a cross by Harris from the left flew over everyone to Mair on the right who cut the ball back for Allan to drive it just past the post then a minute later Williamson made space for himself to hit a left foot shot past the other post.
Aboyne spoiled the party, as the match went into added-on time, with a wonder-strike of their own when their full back smashed a similar shot to Beaton’s from the right that flashed over Ogg and into the back corner of the net.
There was still time left for one last chance from the Jags when Allan crossed from the left to Duncan at the back post but the Aboyne keeper capped a fine performance when was out swiftly to smother the ball at Duncan’s feet.
This was a confident and clinical performance by Thistle which lifts them back into the leading pack in the league although it is still early in the season.
The team scored four well-crafted and finished goals and the defence was rock solid which will boost their confidence further, however, they could have easily doubled that total and will need to capitalise further on the amount of chances they create.
