Fight back from Turriff Thistle starts new season with draw
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Turriff Thistle 3 Westdyke 3
Turriff Thistle opened their 2022-2023 season with a hard-fought draw against Westdyke at The Haughs as they began their league campaign in Division 1 East.
They left it late in the match with an outstanding, battling display in the last 10 minutes.
The Jags took a deserved lead after only five minutes through new club captain, Mike McCombie but Westdyke hit back midway through the half with two goals in two minutes to take the one goal advantage into the second half.
The visitors added a third with just more than 20 minutes remaining, however, an action packed last 10 minutes saw Thistle pull a goal back with a quality finish from new signing Nathan Fraser then, with four minutes remaining, Westdyke were awarded a penalty that Jags keeper, Jordan Ogg, saved magnificently.
Finally, with a mere two minutes left a Kian Beaton effort soared over the Westdyke keeper and into the far top corner of the net to cap a superb comeback.
The first starting line-up of the new season included four new signings with full back Callan Reid and central defender James Mackintosh partnering Ryan Catto and Steven Wight in the back-line.
Glen Morrison was introduced wide-left in midfield with Mike McCombie, Joe Bisset and Regan Fowlie and finally Dylan Buxton led the front-line alongside Michael Harris.
New rules to the amateur game now allow teams to play a maximum of five subs from a list of seven and a full Jags subs bench was made up of Jonny Buist, Kian Beaton, Mitchell Allan, Lee Stuart, Bruce Mair and another two new signings, Nathan Fraser and Callum Wilson.
Thistle put pressure on Westdyke straight from the kick-off and within two minutes Fowlie set Harris free behind the defence but his quick shot from the edge of the box was saved by the keeper’s feet.
The Jags took the lead on five minutes with Harris driving down the left before cutting the ball back to Buxton whose shot was blocked but the ball rolled out to McCombie just outside the box, and his blockbuster of a shot managed to hit Bisset on the way through to goal then hit the post, hit the diving keeper, hit the post again before finding the net.
Thistle pressed on and 10 minutes in Reid chipped a delightful ball from the right deep into the Westdyke box to find McCombie whose header was narrowly off target but play was stopped for offside.
Westdyke equalised on 19 minutes with a neat one-two in the middle just outside the box and the final shot was drilled low into the corner of the net.
Barely a minute after the restart had passed when the Westdyke striker drove straight down the middle unchallenged through both the Jags midfield and defence but Ogg was out quickly to block the shot, however, the ball rebounded off the striker and into the net to give the visitors a very fortunate lead.
Thistle fought back immediately and on 21 minutes Fowlie burst into the Westdyke box and was brought down with a late tackle but the referee failed to award a penalty as he deemed the challenge to be outside the box and played the advantage instead which came to nothing.
The Jags kept up the pressure and on 24 minutes Harris was set free behind the Westdyke defence but his shot flew over the bar.
Both teams were moving the ball around confidently but the defences stood firm.
Westdyke created another chance on 34 minutes with a drive down the right and the lay-off was met just outside the six-yard box but the shot flashed narrowly past the Jags post.
The last action of the first half saw Thistle surge into the Westdyke box in numbers and the ball fell kindly to Bisset who tried an overhead kick that hit a defender on the arm but the collective penalty claims were waved away.
Thistle started the second half with the same positive attitude and on 48 minutes Harris drove forward on the right before slipping the ball to Reid on the overlap who curled in a beautiful cross that was narrowly missed by Buxton in the middle.
On 53 minutes Mackintosh was forced off with an arm injury he had been nursing since a tackle made in the first half and was replaced by Beaton.
Reid was causing Westdyke severe problems with his attacking runs down the right and on 57 minutes he curled in another superb cross that was perfect for Bisset to run onto but his header flew wide of the goal.
On 59 minutes Buist came on for Wight on the left side of the defence.
The Jags were awarded a free-kick on 63 minutes just outside the Westdyke box but Buxton’s attempt rebounded off the defensive wall.
On 65 minutes Allan came on for Morrison.
Thistle found themselves two behind on 68 minutes when they failed to clear a Westdyke corner which was clinically slammed into the net.
Fraser made his competitive debut when he replaced Buxton and had barely been on the pitch for five minutes when he pulled a goal back for the Jags when Reid played a diagonal ball from the right to Harris in the middle who laid it off perfectly for Fraser to run onto and superbly float the ball over the advancing keeper and into the top corner.
This gave the Jags the boost they needed and the final 10 minutes had to be seen to be believed.
On 81 minutes Stuart replaced McCombie in the centre of midfield.
Then a Westdyke free kick from just outside the box was brilliantly tipped round the post by Ogg at full stretch.
On 86 minutes a Westdyke striker burst through the Thistle defence in a suspiciously offside position but he came together with Reid then hit the deck and a penalty was awarded.
Going two behind with four minutes remaining the Jags were staring defeat in the face, however, Ogg came to the rescue twisting his body as he dived to his right to get a hand to the ball and save the spot-kick.
Thistle piled into the attack as the clock ticked down and got their reward on 88 minutes when Beaton picked the ball up wide on the right and drove a deep cross into a packed Westdyke goalmouth that sailed over everyone, and the keeper, to drop into the top corner of the net.
People would have thought that the Jags had just won a cup final by the way the entire team swarmed round Beaton to celebrate the equaliser.
The remaining minutes and added-on time dragged on but Thistle held on to come away with a well-deserved draw.
Overall, this was a solid performance from the Jags who started well but fell away in the middle of the first half.
The second half was much better and with some more composed finishing could have come away with a win.
