10/4/13 – The night where everything changed

Thistle have won two major trophies in their 144-year history and apparently there is an unwritten rule that such an event is bicentennial; the Jags lifted the Scottish Cup in 1921, and Davie McParland’s side stunned Jock Stein’s Celtic in the 1971 League Cup final with a shock 4-1 win.

The lack of regular success makes it all the more sweeter for supporters when it does arrive, though, and Jags fans cherish the few moments when the day was well and truly theirs.

Back in 2013, Alan Archibald was at the helm as Thistle reached the Challenge Cup final. It was a trophy that the club had never won and although some supporters of top-flight clubs treat it with disdain, the Jags were in no position to be picky about the trophies they had a real chance of winning.

It didn’t happen, though. The game was typical Thistle – surreal, dramatic, farcical but ultimately disappointing. After the scores were level and the game entered extra-time, Nicky Clark nudged Queen of the South ahead in the first half. With the clock winding down, Thistle pressed and pressed for an equaliser but to no avail.

Then, with two minutes to go, all hell broke loose. Thistle won a penalty in the 118th minute and up stepped Aaron Muirhead to take it. He missed, headbutted Chris Higgins and was rewarded with a red card for his efforts. With Archibald’s men staring defeat in the face, Kris Doolan popped up with a last-gasp equaliser to take the game to penalties – sparking scenes of wild jubilation amongst the Firhill club’s support – only for Queens to lift the cup after coming out on top in the resulting shoot-out.

For supporters, one word summed up that manic afternoon: typical. Once again, Thistle had come so close but failed to get over the finish line. Luckily for Archibald and his players though, there was a game a few days later that offered them a chance to right the wrongs of the final and gave the team a shot at redemption.

The Challenge Cup was not Thistle’s only shot at silverware that season. The Jags had mounted a title challenge under Jackie McNamara before the former Celtic defender upped sticks and joined Dundee United in January with the club neck-and-neck with Morton in the race for the title. Archibald was given the job until the end of the campaign with a simple remit: to win the league.

As the season progressed, Thistle edged ahead of the Greenock side and it soon became apparent that one game in particular would all but settle the championship. Just a few days after that Challenge Cup final defeat, Archibald’s side hosted Morton at Firhill on a crisp Wednesday evening in Maryhill. The stakes were clear: win and all but seal the title, or lose and come up short yet again.

"Going into that, we were disappointed with the way the cup game panned out," said Stevie Lawless. "But if you had offered us one game to win it would have been the league, 100 percent. That’s where we all wanted to be. It’s very well winning a cup but to win the league and get promoted was what the full team wanted. If I had to pick one game to lose it would have been the cup final."

Chris Erskine started the game that night for Thistle and the playmaker says he and his team-mates fully understood the importance of the occasion.

“We had just lost a cup final which was tough, but the league was the main thing that year,” he said. “That night was a chance for us to basically put everything into our own hands. We’d had a couple of games in hand that had been postponed and Morton had a bit of a lead on us. We knew that night that if we beat Morton then it almost took them out of the running – we would only need two wins after that to clinch the league in four games. It was a massive night. I remember Firhill was absolutely packed, it was one of the best nights at Firhill that season.”

Doolan, who started up front that evening, agrees. “It’s one of those where you’re hoping you get a reaction from the players,” he said. “I’m sure that’s what Archie was hoping to see after coming so close. Everybody was down after the cup final. But within our team, we knew that we could bounce back.”

The players might well have been up for the challenge of a do-or-die title decider but in the home dugout at Firhill, Archibald was not quite so calm. “My biggest memory of that game is that we were s*****g ourselves!” he said.

As the game approached kick-off, it became apparent that the match would not start at the scheduled time. Nearly 9,000 supporters crammed into Firhill that night – the club’s largest home attendance for quite some time – as the news filtered through to the players that they would have to wait a little longer to get the game under way.

“They delayed the kick-off because there was that any people coming in,” recalled Erskine. “It was pretty much a full house which is amazing when you think about that – a First Division game, two teams that aren’t massively backed in term of fans but I think you could see what it meant to everybody that night.”

Matt Greer, a Partick Thistle fan and presenter of Jags podcast Draw, Lose or Draw, was at the game that night. The atmosphere, he says, was electric – but there was always that nagging doubt at the back of his mind that things wouldn’t work out.

“I was at Cappielow for the 2-2 [earlier in the season] and I remember the Morton fans thinking the league was over,” he said. “The Sunday before the game at Firhill was the Challenge Cup final and I remember that because my grandad passed away on the Saturday night. He was a big Thistle fan. We didn’t go the Challenge Cup final and we were in two minds about going to the Morton game. We ended up going because we got hospitality tickets.

“It was a huge game. Everything was building towards that.

“I think we got to the ground about 6 o’clock. I’ve never seen Firhill like that, it was incredible. Even the hospitality section was full. The Jackie Husband stand was totally full – I’ve never seen Firhill like that at all. Everyone was in a good mood and you don’t see that much at Firhill anymore! Everyone seemed really up for it. It was almost like a cup final because there were fans there that don’t go every week. It had a cup final – maybe even an international – feel to it.

“The Morton fans brought a good crowd as well. I think they just about filled the Colin Weir stand. I’m not sure what that holds but I imagine that’s not far off their average home gate.”

Tam O’Ware – the current Thistle captain – was in the starting line-up for the visitors that night and says the unique atmosphere left an impression on him, even if he doesn’t have the happiest of memories from that night.

“I was 18, that was my first full season at Morton,” he said. “I had played the six months of the season before and that was my first full season. I remember kick-off being delayed 15 minutes because there were too many punters. We were warming up and someone came out and said that we’d been delayed, I just remember looking about. I had never played in anything like that, there were nearly 10,000. It wasn’t the best night for me personally but it’s certainly one I haven’t forgotten.”

The game eventually got under way and perhaps unsurprisingly, it was a tense affair. Thistle had typically played free-flowing, attacking football that season but they struggled to play in their usual manner. Morton, too, had difficulty in getting into the rhythm of the contest as both sides felt the weight of the occasion on their shoulders.

“It felt a bit different,” Greer explained. “Everyone was talking about the game more than they normally would because it was so big. We’re not in that position very often, where we have title deciders. It was probably the first time we had a game like that since the 2006 play-offs. It was quite nerve wracking. In hospitality that night, there were quite a few older fans and I think they understood the importance of the occasion and gave that sense that it was a big and important night.

“I don’t think the crowd and the ground seemed that nervous, the players seemed more nervous than the crowd on both sides. I remember [Scott] Fox and [Derek] Gaston were the two goalies and I remember them both fumbling crosses quite early on.”

Clear-cut chances were hard to come by for either side until shortly before half-time, Thistle struck what would prove to be a decisive blow. The ball was worked up the park to Chris Erskine on the left, who cut inside and saw Doolan in the box, marked by O’Ware. Over at the far post, James Craigen was unmarked and afforded the freedom of Firhill.

Erskine played the ball across the box and it felt like time stood still. The ball was outwith Doolan’s reach, O’Ware lunged for it and missed as it trundled towards Craigen for what felt like an eternity.

Greer recalled: “From the hospitality section Craigen was in line with the goal, you could see that he was the pass for a good few seconds before it was actually made. He was in all this space and it seemed to take an age to get to him. But once it did – it doesn’t look it when you watch it back – it looked like a sitter from where we were, it looked like a tap-in from our angle. So once it got to him we already had our arms up.

“The celebrations were tremendous because the ground was so full. I’ve not really seen celebrations like that at Firhill since.”

For Craigen, it was a high-stakes test of his composure. He had all the time in the world to figure out what to do; the challenge was to remain level-headed and calm despite knowing full well just how big a chance it was.

Craigen said: “That game – I don’t think we played particularly well. No one wanted to lose the game and it was a scrappy first half anyway. I was playing just off the right and then Erskine played the ball across and somehow it’s gone past the defender. I’m thinking to myself, ‘Just keep the head down and hit the target here’. Luckily enough I hit it well and put it in the corner. The ten seconds after it was like ecstasy; it’s a strange feeling and I can’t quite describe it.

“I wasn’t really panicked; all I thought was, ‘Head down and make the keeper work’. It came across quite slowly in the end so I got my head down and hit it on my left and I couldn’t have hit it any better. I think I hugged the ballboy in the aftermath – I jumped up, he jumped up at me and then four of the lads came in flying on top of me. It was brilliant.”

As for Erskine, the midfielder conceded that while he was delighted to tee up the all-important goal, there may have been a slice of good fortune about it.

“I wasn’t going for Craigen,” he admitted. “I can’t quite remember what happened; I don’t know if it took a deflection on the way into the box or if somebody missed it, but it managed to get its way through to JC and he scored.”

The game wore on as Thistle held on to their narrow advantage. The mood around Firhill had changed, though; the carnival atmosphere prior to kick-off has been replaced with a nervy, tense one.

“The longer it goes on at 1-0, the more nervous you become,” Greer said. “The fans become less hearty, there was less of a big-game atmosphere. We were thinking, ‘Oh, this is actually quite serious now. We’re within touching distance of it. We better hang on, we better not muck it up.’”

The players continued to toil and with around 10 minutes to go, Erskine was subbed off. On the park, he was able to keep his cool and not let the occasion get to him but that sense of control vanished as soon as he sat on the bench.

“I think it’s more nerve wracking when you’re on the bench,” he said. “When you’re on the pitch you’re just focused on what’s happening in the game and you can affect it; once you’re on the bench there’s nothing you can do. It’s definitely a bit nervy on the side of the pitch and it was definitely the same that night.”

Stood just a few feet away from Erskine was Archibald, bellowing out instructions to his players. Many of the thousands in attendance that night were counting down the minutes until the referee blew his whistle, but the Thistle boss knew his side were on their way to a vital three points.

“James Craigen scored the only goal of the game and it was good that he did,” he said. “Every player in that squad played an integral part, they all gave something. James was always on the periphery because at the time we had Stevie Lawless, Ross Forbes, Chris Erskine and Kris Doolan. James played a part as well as guys like Christie Elliot, so it was great that he got the goal and I don’t think there was any way we were going to lose after that. Things just go for you.”

The full-time whistle did arrive though, with Morton unable to fashion that all-important equaliser. Thistle had done it – where just a few days ago they had choked and lost a cup final, tonight they had all but sealed the title. There was an outpouring of emotion from the home crowd.

“At the full-time whistle, it was mass relief as much as joy I think,” Greer said. “Being a Partick Thistle fan, you’ve got a thing at the back of your mind saying, ‘This has been great but were going to muck it up’. We blew it at Cappielow when we lost a two-goal lead and you worry that it’s going to happen again.

“It’s not even because of the cup final. As a Thistle fan, it’s sort of engrained in your mind that things will go wrong and the cup final was an extra reminder that it can all go wrong even when you think it’s going great.”

On the pitch, Craigen was all too aware that he had just written his name in Thistle’s history books – and revealed that Archibald made sure that he enjoyed the occasion.

“That’s probably what I will be remembered for from my time at Thistle,” he said. “It’s a special memory, particularly because it was my first season playing for the club and we got promoted. I always remember Archibald said: ‘Enjoy this moment because you don’t get many of these.’ Because it was my first year I was thinking they could all be like this! But he was right – I’ve never had another promotion. I’ve been knocked out of the play-offs four or five times. It was a special time, as were the two years that followed that.”

That result all but ensured a lifelong bond between the players that will never be broken. That togetherness, Doolan stresses, was perhaps the key factor in sealing Thistle’s return to the Premiership.

“It was just such a good blend,” he said of the squad. “The mentality of everybody was together, there was no fuss made at all. Everybody was on the same page and I think you saw that in the way we played. It’s because everybody gets on off the pitch – and we still all get on to this day, we still talk and there’s still that feeling of friendship among everybody – and I think if you’re going to win titles, that’s the type of team that you need.

“That team that won the Championship – everyone still gets on, everybody chats and that friendship will always be there. When you win things with a club, those friendships last forever. I think that’s the way to do it. That’s the kind of team you want to build and the kind of club that you want to build. Myself, Erskine, Lawless, Banzo … we all still get on great and I don’t think that will ever change because of the type of people that we are and what we all have in common. These kind of bonds and friendships last forever.”

The after-effects of that night would reverberate around Firhill for years to come. It was the victory that teed the Jags up for a five-year stay in the Premiership, where they would eventually go on to achieve a sixth-place finish – the club’s highest league position since 1981.

“It was a huge result,” said Greer. “From the fans’ point of view, it felt like that was the night we won the league. It set up five years in the Premiership and we had the youth academy. We had players like Doolan and Erskine go on to carve out a legacy; Lawless, Elliot and Bannigan maybe to a slightly lesser extent. We developed players like Liam Lindsay and that game was the catalyst for all that to happen. It’s probably the biggest win at Firhill in the last 15, 20 years.”

It was the night where Thistle subverted expectations. It was the night where they finally went the distance and a whole generation of fans discovered what it was like to support a successful Thistle team. It was only the sixth time that the Jags had won the second-tier title and for supporters, it was the night they became champions. It was the night everything changed.