4th March 2019 Partick Thistle v Hearts 1-1

Scottish Cup quarter-Final day but with typical SFA disregard for fans the game is being staged on a Monday evening with a 19.05 kick-off time to suit television scheduling. The earlier than normal kick-off will mean Hearts fans travelling to Glasgow will be caught in rush hour traffic in both Edinburgh and Glasgow and any fans leaving work at 17.00 will be struggling to arrive in time for the start of the game. As I no longer work the kick-off time should not have been a great inconvenience but to go by train would mean that travel will be at peak times, unless I wanted to arrive in Glasgow two hours before kick-off, with a subsequent increase in the fare. I decided to take advantage of my concessionary bus pass and caught the 16.00 Megabus to Glasgow arriving at 17.50 with a fare of £1.  A short subway journey, after I worked out where to find the nearest station, followed by a half mile walk meant I arrived at the ground at 18.30.

It was disappointing on arriving at the ground to find that Steven Naismith was not included in the squad. He had been replaced at halftime in last Wednesdays game against Celtic, which I missed due to being on holiday in Agadir. He had not recovered and was replaced by Steven McLean. The full-back spots were filled by Marcus Godinho and Ben Garuccio in the absence of the injured Michael Smith and Demetri Mitchell. 

Hearts had am early chance when a cross from Garuccio was headed wide by Christophe Berra. However in twelve minutes the same combination put Hearts ahead. Oliver Boxanic played a short corner to Garuccio on the edge of the penalty box. The full-back volleyed the ball high towards the right hand side of the penalty box where Berra out-jumped his marker to send a header over Thistle keeper Conor Hazard and into the net. Hearts were well on top and Uche Ikpeazu had a shot saved by Hazard after muscling his way past two defenders into the penalty box. Just before halftime Arnaud Dloum drove into the penalty area fand ound Sean Clare unmarked, twelve yards from goal. Clare took a touch and then shot high over the bar when he should have at least found the target.The "young mob" were sitting together in the centre of the stand and chanting and 'singing" along with the backing of a drummer. I was however concerned when they started singing sectarian songs. I am sure the SFA will be forced to take action against sectarian songs being sung at football matches in the near future. I am however concerned that they may find Hearts an easier target for punitive measures rather than taking on the long-standing and still current sectarian issues with fans of the Glasgow based Celtic and Rangers.

In the second half Thistle came more into the game but think this was due more to Hearts relaxing and looking to hold onto their lead rather than a change in the Thistle game-plan. Hearts were however still making chances and, after a run by Ikpeazu, Djoum fired over the bar from the edge of the penalty box. Shortly after Clare raced into the box but his shot was pushed against the post by Hazard and up into the air. Ikpeazu had two headed attempts at the rebound with the second hitting the crossbar and flying out of play. in seventy two minutes Thistle were awarded a free kick after the referee seemed to think Djoum had committed a foul as he tackled Thistle’s James Penrice and the ball went out of play. Gary Harkins took the free-kick around ten yards infield from where the alleged offence occurred and found substitute Joe Cardle on the left wing. He headed towards the byeline and found the onrushing Christie Elliot with a low cross into the six yard box. Elliot shot home for an undeserved equaliser. Hearts then pressed forward looking for a winner but the tactics now seemed to be to bypass the midfield and launch high balls towards Ikpeazu. Hearts could have had a penalty when the centre-forward appeared to be tripped just inside the box by harking but referee Madden saw nothing untoward in the challenge. Bozanic then had two awful attempts at taking corners both of which failed to get beyond the front post. The second attempt only arrived after a Thistle defender mishit a clearance of the first out of play for a second corner. The guy sitting next to me blamed Olly Lee for the poor corner kicks. I thought this was a bit harsh given Lee spent the whole game "warming the bench" as an unused substitute.The game drifted to a close and the replay will now be held at Tynecastle on 12th March with Inverness Caledonian Thistle awaiting the winners in the semi-final.

After the game I walked back to the subway station and got a tube to Queen Street and then a train back to Edinburgh arriving home at 10.30pm, probably the only advantage of the early kick-off.

Teams

Partick Thistle: Hazard, Elliott, Penrice, Anderson, Spittal, Harkins, Slater, Fitzpatrick, Mansell, McMillan, Saunders. 

Subs: Cardle, Storey.

Hearts: Zlamal, Souttar, Haring, Berra, Bozanic, Clare, Djoum, Garuccio, MacLean, Ikpeazu, Godinho. 

Subs: Mulraney