Venue: Firhill, Glasgow
Opponents: Birmingham City
Attendance: 2,607
Final Score: 1-2
Scorers: Walker / Horsefield, John
Partick Thistle:
01, Kenny Arthur
02, James McKinstry
03, Kenny Milne (Alan Archibald 57)
04 Stephen Craigan
05, Scott Paterson
06, Derek Whyte
07, Jamie Mitchell (Paul Walker 61)
08, Jamie Buchan (Danny Lennon 57)
09, Scott McLean
10, Martin Hardie (Mark Thomson 84)
11, Alex Burns
Subs (not used): Kevin Budinauckas, Barry Elliot, Andy Gibson
Manager, John Lambie
Birmingham City:
01, Nico Vaesen
02, Kenny Cunningham
03, Martin Grainger
04, Olivier Tebily
05, Darren Purse
06, Johnson
07, Devlin (Eaden 61)
08, Robbie Savage (Hyde 61)
09, Stern John (Lazaridis 84)
10, Geoff Horsfield
11, Bryan Hughes (Williams 70)
Subs (not used): Kenna, Bennett, Johnson.
Manager, Steve Bruce
Match Report: from the Birmingham Post, 29th July 2002
John and Horsfield step up to give Morrison food for thought; Partick Thistle 1 Birmingham City 2.
Steve Brucemade great play earlier in the week – when Birmingham City were losing tour games in Scotland 2-1, not winning them 2-1 – that little heed should be taken of results in pre-season friendlies.
So, if the Blues boss is really honest with himself, this one won't count for much either. Especially as both his side's goals owed a great deal to the officials. It's hard to say what upset the locals most; the linesman's failure to raise the flag when Geoff Horsfieldlooked three yards offsideen route to being fouled for Blues' penalty-spot opener, or the referee's astonishing decision to award a killer second goal when Horsfield's header was cleared off the line by Stephen Craigan.
It left Bruce with the ironic sight of seeing Stern John- who tucked away the penalty – and Horsfield on the scoresheet on the same weekend that record signing Clinton Morrisonfinally arrived in Birmingham to begin a preseason scrap for places up front.
But if Blues winning, rather than losing, was not of much relevance, there were aspects of the trip to this seedy quarter of Glasgow that undoubtedly were.
With Aliou Cisse's midweek tummy trouble ensuring he was again held back, that left only Kenny Cunningham- one of Bruce's two World Cup recruits – to make his first appearance in a Blues shirt. The Irish defender showed himself to be equally adept in two roles.
Before the break, he looked at home in an attacking right-back berth in the 4-4-2 formation preferred by Bruce – but he then adapted with ease when pushed inside to form a three-man defence alongside Olivier Tebily and Darren Purse.
'I wanted to have a dabble with the formation and the time to have a look is pre-season, when there's nothing at stake,' Bruce said.
Partick Thistle had initially looked more of a threat, notably when Tebily's miscued pass sent Scott McLean clear, but he blazed wide of Nico Vaesen's left post. Then, McLean headed home after Martin Hardie had headed against the bar, only for the other, more alert, linesman to raise his flag this time.
Heaven alone knows what his colleague was doing two minutes later, when Bryan Hughes dinked a clever ball over the top, an extremely offside-looking Horsfield ran on into the penalty area, was upended by Kenny Milne and John hammered his penalty in off the post.
If Blues were lucky to be ahead, they were more accomplished after the halftime reshuffle.
Twice, Martin Grainger ghosted into the box to meet early Devlin crosses, poking tamely wide from the first before miscuing his header, but the danger was there to see.
Horsfield forced Kenny Arthur to save after John had crossed low from the left but then he had a huge assist for what proved to be the winner.
Horsfield's header towards goal appeared to be cleared comfortably by Craigan. Yet, with not even the merest whiff of a Blues protest expended, the referee awarded a goal. Officials need warm-up games, too, to sharpen up their own act.
Paul Walker gave the home fans something to smile about when he ran into the box after exchanging passes with fellow substitute Danny Lennon and beat Vaesen. But, after a tough week of preseason training, scant off-the-field entertainment and an awful lot of sitting on coaches, it was the Blues players who wore the biggest grins as they set out for home.
Scorer: John (29, pen) 0-1; Horsfield (49) 0-2; Walker (76) 1-2.
Referee: C Hardie.
Attendance: 2,607.
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