Great win for Thistle

Forres Thistle 5 Bridge of Don Thistle 1

Forres Thistle picked up their first league win of the season in comprehensive fashion as they dominated a Bridge of Don side that imploded in the second half with three players seeing red.

The visitors had looked lively in the opening minutes and it took a fine stop from young keeper Sean McIntosh to prevent R Whyte from opening the scoring having been left with only the keeper to beat.

Forres quickly got to grips with the game and Craig Daley tested D Poupard with a fine drive that looked destined for the top corner, but the keeper made a top stop. Charlie Beck had an effort that flew wide before the pressure told in the thirteenth minute.

Alasdair Mackintosh fed the ball in to Davie McIvor who took advantage of the space afforded to him to accurately place the ball into the corner of the net. The Jags tails were up and they should have added to their tally.

Poupard had to save from Davie McIvor and Scott Roy while a defence splitting pass from Charlie Beck set up Craig Daley but his parting effort was dragged wide of the target. Typically Forres were punished for not taking advantage of their openings when a cross from G Moorhouse was headed home by R Whyte just on the stroke of half time.

Despite this set back Forres went on to produce another dominant performance after the break and earned a comfortable victory. It was 2-1 when Craig Daley set up John Ross and he slotted the ball into the net.

Then came a mad ten minutes in which G Moorhouse, R Whyte and A Jokaran all saw red as the visitors lost the plot. Craig Daley put the game out of site with a goal from close range and now the only question was how many Forres would score.

Goal number four arrived ten minutes from time when Sam Lawson rose to head home from Jon Fraser’s corner. Craig Daley then headed over from a Scott Roy delivery before Roy scored a wonderful fifth to round things off in style. He wound his way past two defenders before angling a shot into the net to complete a nap hand

Forres Thistle: S McIntosh, A Mackintosh (J Fraser), D McCulloch, S Lawson, M Milne, D McIvor (M Pennie), J Ross, C Beck (C Short), S Roy, A Stables, C Daley Subs: M McPhee, R Gerard,

Bridge of Don Thistle: D Poupard, A Banks, M Middler, S Sim, A Elphinstone, D Robertson, G Moorhouse, R Stewart, R Whyte, G Sherriffs, A Jokaran Subs M Carrol, C Grant, S Cuthbert, K Johnstone, D Maclean

Ian McLeod was understandably delighted at collecting his first league win as Forres Thistle manager and believes that this could be a springboard for the team to rack up some points before the festive break.

“We are delighted to have got that first win which was really good for the boys. We should probably have got it weeks ago but now it us under our belts this will hopefully be the start of a run.

“We are good enough to beat any of the teams in the league and we have to keep picking up the points. We have Nairn St Ninian away next week then it is Burghead Thistle, Lossie United and Buchanhaven, which will take us up to the halfway point in the season and almost the Christmas break as well. It is important we take those games one at a time and try to get as close to maximum points as possible.”

Looking back at the victory on Saturday McLeod believes the scoreline did anything but flatter his dominant side, “They came at us for the first few minutes and then scored in the last minute of the first half but other than that we dominated the rest of the game.

“We could have been 4-0 up at half time and in the end we could have scored a barrowload. As soon as the third goal went in and that allowed us to relax a bit, it was fine to be in that position and I was pleased that we added another couple and continued to want to create chances. All in all it was a good day.”