A poor outing against Arbroath Vics condemned Thistle to a sixth straight home defeat at the weekend. Having drawn the previous fixture earlier in the season they were looking to take all three against an ever improving young team, but a string of individual errors lead to them going down 3-0. Arbroath opened the scoring sigh their first shot on goal, following a mistimed tackle by Morrice on Ross in the box,  Mowatt stepped up to dispatch the awarded penalty in the bottom right corner. Vics continued to dominate throughout the first half, and almost grabbed a second when McGregor's cutback found Hester in space, but his effort was deflected out by a a George header. From the resulting corner Hester had another effort, this time volleying narrowly past the post. On twenty minutes Vics were reduced to ten men for an alleged kick by Ross on Millar, but this didn't stop their high tempo of play and once again Hester tested Knox with an effort from 20 yards. Morrice tested Cargill from distance but Thistle failed to create any clear chances in the opening 45.

The second half saw much of the same with the visitors dominating play, Knox denied Mowatt a second with his feet and again kept him out with a low save. The numbers were levelled up when referee Fraser sent Dempster from the field for a stamp on Sturrock. Vics were almost gifted a second when Millar passed back to Knox only for the ball to bobble over the unfortunate keepers foot, who showed a clean pair of heels to recover and clear. Muckersie stung Cargill's palms with an effort from inside the box before Russell fired inches wide following a decent passing move. Hester continued his impressive scoring form doubling the Vics lead after latching onto a long ball following a misjudgement by George, to slot home past Knox. The scoring was completed when the ball was cut back to the edge of the Kirrie box to substitute Swan who effortlessly fired past Knox. Kirrie travel to Luncarty next week whilst Arbroath Vics have Lochore Welfare.

Glen Barclay