League leaders win out over the Jags
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Nicolls Amateurs 2 - Turriff Thistle 0
Turriff Thistle suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of the current Division 1 North league leaders but it was an afternoon of mistakes and missed chances as the Jags matched their opponents throughout the match but lacked that clinical finish in the final third to find the net.
Two momentary lapses in concentration, late in the first half, allowed Nicolls to take a two-goal lead into the interval.
The Jags were much more purposeful in the second half, controlling the majority of the match and creating several scoring chances, but just couldn’t find that elusive goal that would have spurred them on to take something from the game.
Thistle’s starting line-up saw Lewis Cheyne take over in goal for the injured Jordan Ogg, Kian Beaton move back to defence alongside Mike McCombie and Ryan Catto with Dan Bruce return to midfield in place of the unavailable Jonny Buist.
Joe Bisset, Mitchell Allan, Greg Miazek and Regan Fowlie made up the rest of the midfield behind Ryan Morrison and Michael Harris who spearheaded the attack.
With Lee Stuart and Shane Cogan also injured, Bruce Mair ill and Kyle Chalmers unavailable a depleted subs bench consisted of Joe Stephen and Cayden Mearns with manager, Matthew Sim added in case of a complete emergency.
The match kicked off with both teams adopting a cagey strategy without either creating a clear scoring chance as both defences were confident and well organised.
The first shot in anger came from Nicolls in eight minutes when a cross from the right was met on the volley from distance which flew well past the Jags post.
Nicolls kept up the pressure on the Jags defence but Cheyne was commanding in the air and dealt competently with any final cross or throughball.
Thistle’s first chance came in 17 minutes when a Miazek and Allan passing sequence through the middle set Harris free on the left but his low shot was easily saved by the Nicolls keeper.
In 25 minutes Bruce blocked an attempted clearance wide on the right and his cross from the bye-line found Fowlie at the edge of the box but his shot was again well saved.
Nicolls took the lead in 27 minutes when a mix-up in the Thistle defence failed to clear a cross from within the packed goalmouth and a final touch saw the ball hit both posts before slowly trundling over the goal-line.
The Jags pushed forward straight from the restart with Fowlie and Bruce finding space on both wings, Bisset, Allan and Miazek probing through the middle and Morrison and Harris working tirelessly at the edge of the box, however, the Nicolls defence stood firm and denied Thistle any clear-cut chances.
The Jags continued to maintain their pressure and looked like heading to the interval only one behind, however, they were caught out in 44 minutes when Nicolls broke away swiftly from the edge of their own box and set their striker free to stroke the ball from the left-hand side of the Thistle box into the bottom right corner of the net giving Cheyne no chance.
A more determined Thistle started the second half and immediately took the game to Nicolls, however, they were dealt a severe blow in 50 minutes when playmaker Miazek stayed down after a hefty tackle and required treatment for several minutes before limping off and replaced by Mearns.
The Jags came close to an equaliser in 55 minutes when Bruce drove strongly up the right and his cross found Morrison at the right-hand corner of the six-yard box but his superb turn and shot flew narrowly over the Nicolls bar.
After conceding the messy first goal you began to think that Thistle’s luck was out for the day when, in 65 minutes, Harris made space for himself at the edge of the Nicolls box and fired in a low shot that beat the diving keeper only to rebound off the post and straight back into his arms as he lay on the ground.
The Jags were making all the running at this time and in 67 minutes another volley from Morrison didn’t dip quick enough and fizzed narrowly over the Nicolls bar.
Thistle’s control of the half was obvious as it took to the 73 rd minute for Cheyne to have some involvement in the match when Nicolls broke through on the right but the final shot was well held by the Jag’s keeper.
In 76 minutes Joe Stephen came on for Fowlie who was carrying an niggling injury. Nicolls created their second chance of the half in 78 minutes but the header following a cross from the right was again easily held by Cheyne.
Thistle came close to pulling a goal back in 80 minutes when Bruce looped a corner from the right to the back post where Allan headed the ball back into the crowded goalmouth and Beaton rose above everybody to power in a header from only a couple of yards out which unfortunately deflected off a challenging defender and allowed the keeper to drop and smother the ball directly on the goal-line.
The final chance of the match fell to the Jags in 85 minutes when another turn and shot from Morrison on the right-hand side of the box again flew low past the near post.
Although this was a disappointing defeat Thistle controlled massive periods of the match, particularly in the second half, against the current Division leaders who are odds on to gain promotion to the Premier Division for next season and the performance showed that the current team is very close to the standard required to compete in the top league.
The quality, organisation, work-rate and consistency are there already, however, the Jags just need to stop losing messy and unnecessary goals against teams that they really should be giving a severe skelping to.
