Partick Thistle 1 Airdrie United 1

Last updated : 12 February 2005 By Footymad Previewer
Both Both of the sides shared the spoils in a game which was affected by swirling winds and driving rain.

Thistle took the early advantage and a Steve Fulton free-kick after eight minutes was punched clear by Mark McGeown in the Airdrie Utd goal.

The next serious attack from Thistle saw them win a corner in the 14th minute and Derek Fleming somehow found the net directly from it with McGeown floundering on his six-yard line.

Thistle continued to be in the ascendancy and with Airdrie's first real attack on goal they equalised on 24 minutes.

A David Dunn corner was met at the back post by a totally unmarked Allan McManus and his stng free header went high into the roof of the net. At this stage the conditions worsened and neither side were able to control the play.

However Thistle should have retaken the lead on 43 minutes when Fleming's free-kick found its ways to Armand One whose close-range header was well saved by McGeown, but in reality he should have done better.

The second half was barely a minute old when Billy Gibson's corner went straight against the crossbar before being cleared by a grateful Airdrie defence.

The play swung immediately to the other end and Alan Gow combined well with Owen Coyle and his curling 18-yard shot was well saved by Kenny Arthur.

Following on from this neither side were able to carve out any further openings until the 69th minute when sub Juan Ramon Escalas played in Gibson, however, his precise shot curled well wide by the far post.

As the game neared its conclusion Thistle had one more chance with Darren Brady's shot being blocked in the six-yard line before being cleared and the last chance of the game fell to Gow, who was clean through only to see his shot well saved by Arthur.