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  • Muir of Ord Rovers 6-1 Tain Thistle

    Muir of Ord continued to show their home dominance with a thumping second half display at Pavilion Park today, dumping Tain Thistle 6-1 with six goals in forty minutes.<br /><br />Thistle boss John Oliver was forced into a number of changes this week with winger Darran Goller suspended and captain Arron Christie on trial with Brora Rangers. Martyn Farquhar and Craig Sutherland both returned to the starting lineup, with injury concern Lee Morrison and Martin Smith taking places on the bench. Striker Russell Lawrie and goalkeeper Ali Matheson also returned to the starting eleven following a fortnight layoff for both.<br /><br />With half an hour gone, Muir had the best chance of a first half devoid of any real activity, when Ewan Dance found himself clean through on the returning Matheson. The striker however, could only place his shot wide.<br /><br />Thistle could have taken the lead at the other end soon after however when Ashley Mills fired a shot on target, but goalkeeper Martin Rae was up to the task.<br /><br />Despite a number of corners to follow, the game finished goalless at half time.<br /><br />Muir of Ord started the second half in dominant fashion, and within five minutes had taken the lead. Picking up the ball in the final third, Scott Morrison dribbled through a dazzled Thistle defence and placed a shot into the bottom left corner of Ali Matheson’s net.<br /><br />The home side’s lead was short lived however as a corner at the other end led to an equalizer for Tain on 52 minutes. Martyn Farquhar had made a clever tackle on the edge of the Muir box to maintain pressure from the corner, before crossing from the byline for top scorer Russell Lawrie to head the ball home.<br /><br />A good-tempered game took an ugly turn soon after, as Muir’s (number 7) was booked for simulation, handing Thistle a free kick in their eighteen-yard box.<br /><br />By the hour mark, Thistle’s equalizer was not enough to prevent Rovers’ second half flurry of attacks however, as the home side rattled in two goals in quick succession, exposing a sleepy defence to go 3-1 up, leaving Tain stunned.<br /><br />On 72 minutes, Muir made it 4-1, converting a controversial penalty award following a refereeing decision that was disputed even by the home side. Adding to Thistle’s injury concerns Russell Lawrie was forced to withdraw from the field of play with a sore foot, replaced by the debuting Darren Oliver.<br /><br />Muir of Ord rounded off a horrendous second half for Thistle with two further goals in the final ten minutes, taking the final score to 6-1.<br /><br />In other news, Thurso took all three points with a stunning 3-2 win over Halkirk and Balintore secured a 2-1 win at Bonar Bridge. The bottom of the table clash between Fort William and Invergordon was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Fort William. The only other game of the day saw Dingwall beat Golspie 1-0.<br /><br /><b>Team:</b><br />Matheson, Farquhar, Sutherland, Mackay, K Oliver, Austin, Mills, Mailley, Durrand (Smith), D Christie, Lawrie (D Oliver)<br /><br /><b>Subs not used:</b><br />Morrison<br /><br /><b>Goals:</b><br />Lawrie 52<br /><br /><b>Bookings:</b><br />Mailley, D Christie<br /><br /><b>Man of the Match:</b><br />Craig Sutherland<br /><br /><b>Match details:</b><br /><a href="http://www.tainthistle.co.uk/matchdetails.php?id=267"> http://www.tainthistle.co.uk/matchdetails.php?id=267</a>

  • Latest News | Tain Thistle AFC
  • FM2010 Highland League & North Caley patch

    <img class="imgleft" align="left" alt="" src="http://www.tainthistle.co.uk/news/data/upimages/fm10.jpg">Football Manager 2010 was launched this week for PC and Mac, and fans of Tain Thistle can now play as the Jags manager by downloading the HL-NCL patch, which allows you take control of North Caledonian league teams and play in the Second XI league for the first time!<br /><br />The patch includes:<br /> - Ten team North Caledonian league<br /> - North Caley, SWL, Jock Mackay and Football Times cup competitions<br /><br />Right click <a href="http://www.tainthistle.co.uk/ncl.xml">here</a> and select Save As/Save Target As to download the file, and save it to the following location:<br /><br />C:/ Documents and Settings/ (whateveryourusernameis)/ My Documents/ Sports Interactive/ Football Manager 2010/ editor data<br /><br />When loading a new Football Manager 2010 game, be sure to select Change and ensure that NCL is selected in the following window.<br /><br /><i>**You must have the most up to date version of the FM2010 game (10.1) to run this patch!!**</i><br /><br />If you have any problems, please contact the Webmaster via the Contact Us option.

  • Latest News | Tain Thistle AFC
  • Goller hit with ban

    Winger Darran Goller has been issued an immediate one match ban by the SFA disciplinary committee following his dismissal against Thurso last Saturday. The action follows his on-the-pitch scuffle with Thurso's Martin Sutherland, who was also sent off.<br /><br />The suspension means that Goller will miss Thistle's trip to Muir of Ord, tomorrow, October 31st.

  • Latest News | Tain Thistle AFC
  • Tain Thistle 0-7 Thurso

    It was a simple case of night and day at Grant Park this afternoon. With no resemblance other than the bright white strips of the same Tain Thistle who battled for 90 minutes at Sir Georges Park in September, a dominant Thurso destroyed the Grant Park men by 7 goals to nil in miserable conditions.<br /><br />At their weakest with call offs and absences, Thistle boss John Oliver handed a first team debut to 17 year old Martin Smith, while Andy Murray also made his first start of the season. Trialist Ian Bartlett stepped in between the sticks as a total of six first team regulars, namely Ashley Mills, Paul Austin, Gordy Oman, Russell Lawrie, Martyn Farquhar and Ali Matheson made up the absentee list, giving Thistle their biggest challenge of the season to date.<br /><br />Thistle seemed to get off to a decent start in the dreech, wet and windy conditions as Daniel Christie found himself with a chance to score, putting the ball just wide after good forward play from Darran Goller. The start was weathered quickly however, as Thurso began their pursuit of an opener. The forward line of Nichol, MacDougall and Mackenzie enjoyed an inventive ten minute spell, wreaking havoc on the Thistle goal, before taking a 1-0 lead. A cross into the Thistle box went unmet by the oncoming Bartlett, as the ball was gently knocked beyond him into the net.<br /><br />Thistle looked as though they might form a fightback but any semblance of chance was quickly eradicated when returnee Andy Murray, already booked for an earlier challenge, shoved a Thurso forward in the eighteen yard box. Referee Graham Elder pointed to the spot and Thurso's Mark Nichol made no mistake with the penalty; Murray escaping with only a warning.<br /><br />2-0 down, Thistle's young forward pairing of Darran Goller and Martin Smith tried but struggled to make any impact in the first half. In fact, it was winger Daniel Christie who was the only man to find the target in the first period, rattling the crossbar with a free kick ten minutes before the break.<br /><br />Thurso made the second half seem somewhat academic however with a third first half goal, Thistle again caught sleeping at the back for a simple tap in.<br /><br />The second half initially brought a further two goals for Thurso, taking the score to 5-0 but will make the headlines more for the cards issued to both sides. The half saw no fewer than five yellow and two red cards, with Thistle's Darran Goller the first to be dismissed for shoving Martin Sutherland. Sutherland, who saw yellow for his trouble was sent off immediately after, as he had already been booked for an altercation with Martin Smith ten minutes prior.<br /><br />With 20 men left on the park, Thurso netted a further two goals, first from the spot following an Arron Christie infringement and again two minutes later.<br /><br />The hugely disappointing defeat surprisingly does not alter Thistle's current league position; the Jags men remaining in 6th place as Thurso march ahead in 1st. In other league action, Golspie came back from a 1-0 deficit to beat Balintore 2-1. Meanwhile, Muir of Ord secured the first silverware of the season, beating Halkirk by 2 goals to 1 to win the Lindsays of Golspie North Caledonian Cup.<br /><br /><b>Team:</b><br />Bartlett, Durrand, Murray (Sutherland), Mackay, Morrison, K Oliver, D Christie, Mailley, Goller, Smith, A Christie<br /><br /><b>Subs not used:</b><br />D Oliver<br /><br /><b>Booked:</b><br />Murray, Mackay<br /><br /><b>Sent Off:</b><br />Goller<br /><br /><b>Match details:</b><br /><a href="http://www.tainthistle.co.uk/matchdetails.php?id=266">http://www.tainthistle.co.uk/matchdetails.php?id=266</a>

  • Latest News | Tain Thistle AFC
  • Tain Thistle 1-2 Halkirk United

    Tain Thistle today missed out on a chance to go top of the table, losing 2-1 to the visiting Halkirk United in a closely fought contest, at Grant Park this afternoon.<br /><br />Manager John Oliver had to deal with a number of personnel changes, most significantly in the goalkeeping spot; drafting in former Invergordon youth keeper Sean Broadbent for a last minute debut. Paul Austin returned to action and the surprise bench addition of Paul Cowie, still recovering from a knee injury, boosted the side's options.<br /><br />Halkirk, a side flying high in the league with sixteen goals to their name already were expected to be a force, but Thistle were hopeful of continuing the good form that had seen climb to 3rd in the league after 5 games.<br /><br />United's goalscoring prowess was evident in the first half as Kyle Ross gave the visitors a 24th minute lead. Arron Christie went close with a free kick at the other end but failed to hit the target.<br /><br />On the half hour mark, following an attempted clearance, Craig Sutherland netted in his own net to put Halkirk 2-0 ahead at the break.<br /><br />Ever resilient however, the Thistle men fought back to score through Lee Morrison in the second half, but could not find an equalizer. The goal followed a near certain goalscoring opportunity for Darran Goller, who though impressive throughout the game failed to strike with authority into the open goal and Halkirk cleared.<br /><br />The game finished 2-1 to Halkirk, putting the Caithness side into the top spot. In other action, Invergordon were beaten 6-1 by a rejuvenated Golspie and Bonar Bridge were trounced by a rampant Muir of Ord side.<br /><br /><b>Team:</b><br />Broadbent, Durrand (Murray), Farquhar, Mackay, Morrison, Austin (Cowie), Mills, K Oliver, Goller, Sutherland, A Christie<br /><br /><b>Subs not used:</b><br />D Oliver<br /><br /><b>Goals:</b><br />Morrison 58<br /><br /><b>Booked:</b><br />Goller<br /><br /><b>Man of the Match:</b><br />Darran Goller<br /><br /><b>Match details:</b><br /><a href="http://www.tainthistle.co.uk/matchdetails.php?id=265">http://www.tainthistle.co.uk/matchdetails.php?id=265</a>

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