Partick Thistle 2 - 0 Aberdeen

A stirring contest was witnessed by 12,000 spectators last night, when Partick Thistle had Aberdeen as visitors at Firhill Park, Glasgow, in a League match. McMenemy and Salisbury made their first appearance for the Thistle, who had J. Gibson, Ashfield, at right-half. The play in the first half was lively, both sets of forwards giving a fine display. Thistle were the more dangerous lot, and Anderson had to exert himself on several occasions to avert disaster. There was no scoring at the interval, but within five minutes of restarting, Kinloch gave Thistle the lead. Thereafter, Aberdeen put in a lot of good play, and only the clever saving of Campbell kept them from equalising. Connon had the best shot of the match, but Campbell was on the spot, and cleared at the expense of a fruitless corner. In the last minute Hannah gave away a penalty, and Harris scored a second goal for the Thistle.

Source: The Scotsman, 31st August 1921

Aberdeen suffered their first reverse of the season at Firhill Park, Glasgow, last night, when Partick Thistle beat them, under Scottish League auspices, by 2 goals to 0.
The Scottish Cupholders have many worries at present. Up till last night they had tried a liberal infusion of junior talent in the forward line, but while this may have given the youngsters experience, it had furnished few League points. The youths were dropped en bloc for Aberdeen's benefit, and veteran McMenemy made his debut for the season, while in a desperate attempt to solve the centre-forward problem, half back Johnstone was drafted in. There would be 16,000 present.

Ragged and Towsy,

Play in the first half was ragged and the participants were so many units, and up till half-time it was a case of one scrambling attack after another with very little football that was either clever or exciting. Salisbury gave Anderson his first heart throb by hitting the cross-bar. The custodian got another start when Wright, intercepting a centre from Blair, booted the ball into Anderson's hands. Prominent in withstanding the home rushes was Hutton; his kicking and tackling were seldom at fault. Aberdeen had several dashes in response, but the forwards shot from hopeless range and with hopeless inaccuracy. Neither custodian got much to do for half an hour. Thistle then got a comer, and the ball was so well placed that Anderson had to scrape it off the cross-bar for another flag kick. This was cleared, and then the Dons secured a similar award. Flanaghan took it poorly, but Wright cutely back heeled the ball to Bert MacLachlan, who drove over. Aberdeen continued to hover in home territory. Miller got possession, but his shot was so weird that it almost developed into a pass to Middleton. The latter was conspicuous. A minute later he diddled beautifully and centred well, but the ball was headed away. Two corners to Thistle and some wild shooting by Aberdeen marked the closing stages of a poor first half which was unproductive of goals.

A Big Improvement.

The second portion was more interesting. Thistle emphasised their reputation as a second-half team by rushing the Dons' goal. They were repelled, but coming again, a bout of delightful passing by Gibson, Johnstone, and Kinloch, saw the Aberdeen left defence riddled, and Kinloch, running in, scored with a swift, low shot away from the keeper. This goal heralded several hot raids. Johnstone dashed through, and stalling off the backs, delivered a rasper, which Anderson grandly handled. McMenemy had become rejuvenated too, and a pass to Salisbury started a bombardment of the Aberdeen goal, which would have fallen had not Wright headed out from under the bar. Thistle fell away a bit, and the visitors then provided some splendid football. Rankine and Flanaghan were somewhat weak members, repeatedly failing to finish when something definite seemed assured. The three others did well. Miller dashed off on the right, back-heeled to Middleton, who gave Campbell a hot ground shot. Wright followed with a twirling ball, which the keeper almost lost. Then Connon furnished the finest drive of the game, a beautiful left-footer, which the international custodian tipped over the bar. Connon again caught the attention with a solo run down the right wing, in which he beat both backs and shot into the keeper's hands. Aberdeen were due the equaliser at this stage, and had the forwards pressed home their attack as a body, instead of shooting from outside the penalty line, success might have been theirs.

Last Minute Penalty.

The opportunity passed, however, and in the last minute Hannah, lying on the ground, brought down Salisbury. It was a useless infringement, because the keeper had the ball The referee had no alternative but to grant a penalty, and Harris converted. There was no time to restart the same, and the Dons retired beaten by two goals.

Aberdeen's Dour Defence.

Thistle won because their forwards finished better, and on the run of play they deserved the success. They had a clever wing in Blair and Kinloch, while Johnstone is a good stopgap centre of the rushing type. Neilly Gibson's son, J. Gibson, did well at half-back. Aberdeen had a dour defence, Hutton and Wright being exceptionally steady. Flanaghan, who did not show great ability, and Rankine's shooting was poor. The others were clever, but as a whole they were inclined too much to pot shots instead of converging solidly and pressing home the attack with weight and vim.

Source: Aberdeen Weekly Journal 1st September 1921