Turriff Thistle start pre-season with commanding victory
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Turriff Thistle 6 Monymusk 1
Turriff Thistle began their pre-season fixtures with a comfortable win at The Haughs against Division 2 Monymusk.
With the grass pitches out of commission for a few weeks, after having the goalmouths re-laid, the match took place on the Astro pitch.
The Jags hit the ground running and were 2-0 up within six minutes, both goals scored by Mitchell Allan.
Monymusk regrouped and battled back to hold Thistle until deep into the second half when new signing Dylan Buxton added a third goal then within a couple of minutes trialist Ross Strath scored a fourth.
A Monymusk breakaway within the final 10 minutes reduced the deficit before new signing Nathan Fraser bagged a fifth then Mitchell Allan finally completed his hat-trick with three minutes remaining.
Thistle’s first line-up of the season saw Jordan Ogg start in goal and a back three of Mike McCombie, Ryan Catto and Steven Wight.
The five-man midfield consisted of Joe Bisset, Nathan Fraser, Mitchell Allan, Lee Stuart and Regan Fowlie then the attack was spearheaded by Dylan Buxton and Greg Miazek.
A full subs bench was made up of Lewis Cheyne, Shane Cogan, Colin Bain Jnr, Kyle Chalmers and trialists James McIntosh, Glen Morrison, Richard Colley and Ross Strath.
It only took four minutes from the kick-off for the Jags to go ahead when Buxton drove forward on the left deep into the Monymusk box before squaring the ball to Allan at the back post who smashed it low into the corner of the net.
A couple of minutes later and the Jags were 2-0 up with another move started by Buxton setting Miazek free wide on the right to skip into the box and square the ball to find Allan again at the opposite post and drive it into the net for his and Thistle’s second.
Monymusk were obviously caught cold but soon regrouped to fight back and regain their share of the match, however, Thistle came close to adding a third in 18 minutes when Bisset blasted in a 25-yard free kick that was saved at the second attempt by the Monymusk keeper.
The visitors had their first clear-cut chance of the match on 24 minutes when a corner was cleared by the Jags defence and the ball was volleyed back from just outside the box but flew well over the top.
Miazek and Stuart were unfortunately forced to call it a day after 25 minutes with niggling injuries and were replaced by Strath and Cogan.
The game continued with both teams matching each other in all areas of the pitch and the only scoring chance of the remainder of the first half fell to Thistle on 38 minutes when Allan set Cogan free on the right to drive into the Monymusk box but his low shot to the near post was blocked by the keeper’s feet.
The second half saw Cheyne, McIntosh, Morrison and Colley introduced for Ogg, Wight, Bisset and Fraser.
Strath tried an audacious attempt straight from the kick-off and his shot from the centre circle looked like it was heading for the net with the keeper well beaten but the ball just dropped narrowly over the Monymusk crossbar.
Monymusk showed that they were not finished by any means and on 48 minutes a cross from the right evaded the Jags defence but the header at the back post flew narrowly past.
Thistle hit back immediately through Strath driving down the left and his cut-back found Colley at the edge of the six-yard box but his thunderous shot cannoned off the bar.
On 55 minutes Morrison crossed from the right for Buxton to bullet a header just past the post.
Chalmers and Bain Jnr were then introduced in place of Fowlie and Allan as the Jags kept probing at the Monymusk defence in the search for more goals.
The breakthrough eventually came on 68 minutes when a long ball from McCombie set Buxton free on the left to power past the marking defender, cut into the corner of the box and smash an unstoppable shot into the top right-hand corner of the net.
Jags manager, Matthew Sim, must have thought that Buxton was in need of a rest after all that effort as he whipped him off before the re-start and sent Fraser back on.
The fourth goal came on 70 minutes from a defensive mistake that left the Monymusk keeper stranded against three Jags forwards but he performed miracles in blocking the first attempt from Fraser, then the second attempt from Colley but he had no answer when Strath rushed in and coolly lobbed the ball over him and into the empty net.
The rolling subs continued with Catto and McCombie getting a well-earned rest as Wight and Allan returned to the fray.
Monymusk had a chance to open their goal-tally on 76 minutes when they broke through the Thistle defence on the left but there were no takers for the low cross that flashed across the Jags goalmouth and was cleared by Bain Jnr.
On 77 minutes a Fraser cross from the left dropped to Colley at the back post and his volley was heading for the top corner until the keeper brilliantly tipped it over the bar.
Then, on 80 minutes, a Strath corner was met in the middle by McIntosh whose powerful header was blocked by a defender with the rebound falling perfectly for Colley, however, his point blank shot was unbelievably saved by the Monymusk keeper.
People began to think that this was not going to be Colley’s day with one shot off the bar, one block and two amazing saves by the keeper in a little over 30 minutes of being on the pitch.
Monymusk eventually opened their account on 81 minutes when a long ball forward was picked up by their striker behind the Jags defence and he calmly lobbed the ball over the advancing Cheyne and into the net.
Unhappy at losing their clean sheet Thistle hit back quickly and on 85 minutes Wight set Bain Jnr free on the left who drove down the left before playing a superb, measured cross into the middle for Fraser to rush in and side-foot a volley into the net without breaking his stride.
Goal number six came on 87 minutes from another Monymusk defensive mix-up when Cogan floated a free kick deep into the box which resulted in the keeper and a defender colliding as both of them challenged for the ball which dropped perfectly for Allan to pass it into the empty net and complete his hat-trick.
As the clock ran down Thistle still had the time to create another couple of chances when Strath played a corner to Cogan, 25 yards out, and his volley shot narrowly over the bar.
The day finished for Colley the way it had begun when Fraser slipped him in behind the defence, however, his fierce shot from eight yards was palmed up by the keeper to hit the underside of the bar then bounce on the ground and out. Despite the Jags claims the referee disallowed the goal.
This was a very competent victory for the first run-out of the new season with the entire squad looking fit and well up for the return of competitive football.
Thistle have several pre-season matches over the next two or three weeks for the manager to have a good look at the new faces as he builds a full squad for the 2022-2023 challenges which start in August.
