Scotland – Ross county v Partick Thistle June 4th 2023

Ross county v Partick Thistle June 4th 2023

Culbokie. Not a place you would necessarily expect todays matchday to start in but it did, Culbokie !!

Culbokie is a small village just 6 miles south of Dingwall with a population last recorded as having 1179 residents. Prior to the match in Dingwall I had spent 3 nights in a field in the motorhome, no water or electricity was supplied in this field but 3 days of solitude and reading is good for the mind and the soul if I’m honest.

On checking my Futbology app I noticed that today was the day Ross County would be playing the Jags in the second leg of the Scottish premier division play offs. Thistle had unexpectedly beaten County 2-0 in the first leg and so it was with great anticipation I set off for Dingwall at 10am.

I arrived about 10.45 in a deserted County car park. This didn’t bode well until I realised the game didn’t actually kick off till about 4pm but it was easy parking the moho in a space at the far end of the car park where I wouldn’t be obstructing anyone. I spoke to an elderley club steward who told me I was fine to park.

After about 5 minutes and a warm cup of tea and the tele switched on I was surprised to hear a knock at the door. It was another County club official, this time dressed in the splendour of a suit and tie. Shaking the one finger at me I was told “you cant park that thing here, its a matchday you know”. I told him I knew fine well and I was here for the game. I was then told “your club should have told you there was no parking in the car park” to which I answered I had no club but was intending to be in the home end anyway so where was the problem.

I quickly realised the conversation was going nowhere so off I popped and headed into Dingwall to enjoy some free parking up until 10pm….plenty of time I thought. I sampled the delights of one of only 3 Wimpys left in Scotland which immediately sent me back to 1981 before the delights of McDonalds, KFC and Burger King appeared on every high street.

Leaving the Wimpy I met a few Thistle fans and asked if they had any spare tickets. Although I had originally intended going in the home end, my discussion with the County official had changed my mind, and I decided to go in and support I suppose what could be called my local team, Partick Thistle.

I was told all the away tickets were sold out but if I asked Derek Welsh he had apparently still got about 200 tickets. Its at this time I should mention, I have never met the aforementioned Mr Welsh and had no idea what he looked like but hey ho lets give it a try.

I headed to one of the pubs in Dingwall called the Mallard which is practically on one of the tracks at the railway station. There were many Thistle fans there and I asked if Derek was around to which I was told “He’ll be here about 3pm just look out for him”. Great, I was still none the wiser who this bloke was or even if he did still have the magical 200 tickets.

It’s at this point I must admit, standing with the friendly Thistle fans and after a lot of the Maryhill “banter” I started to feel like one of them. Cheerfully expecting a win and promotion to the SPL was 90 minutes away, or so we all thought.

About an hour before kick off and still at the Mallard a great cheer went up for no reason. It turned out this was the Mr Welsh I was told to look out for. I didn’t know it at the time though and it was only down to one of my new found pals telling me he was here, he knew I was looking for a ticket and more importantly he had one. The 200 tickets claim it turns out was false and he had about 6….and now he had 5 left.

The Global Energy is a small stadium by any comparison, I’ll go more into detail about it in the coming book Around The World In 90 Minutes but it’s fair to say it wasn’t really expecting so many Thistle fans turning up. I cheerfully said hello to the suit who had denied me a space in the car park, and in return I got a frosty frown and a sneer.

Anyway to the game. 43 minutes in and Fitzpatrick put Thistle ahead. the aggregate was now 3-0 to Thistle and the premier league was well and truly in sight. I can’t really put into words the feeling of ecstasy that surrounded the pie stall at half time, Thistle really were back in the big time.

Football can be fun or it can be so cruel it tears the heart out of you. At 71 minutes County got a dubious penalty. Maybe I should mention here that some of the decisions made by the referee Nick Walsh were to say the least surprising. But to be honest his refereeing of the game was either biased towards the home team or just extremely woeful, I know what my money is on. 1-3 and Thistle were coasting it, for another minute anyway.

On the 72nd minute Murray made it 2-1 on the day on 2-3 on aggregate, the mood changed and you could hear the squeeks of a few thousand arse cheeks. On 83 minutes Nick Walsh struck again. He gave Watson of County a deserved red card after hacking down a Thistle player clean through on goal, a decision that was plain to see to everyone. Then VAR struck and Walsh reversed his decision and made it a yellow. A look of disbelief was on everyones faces at this point.

90 minutes plus 1. Thats how close Thistle came. Then Harmon scored for the home team. It felt like the bubble had burst at this time. 3-3 at the end and off to extra time we went.

Nick Walsh should be commended at this point, as we played an extra half hour he made no mistakes, no dodgy decisions and no obviously biased yellow or red cards. Well done Nick, you were almost competent for 30 minutes.

With no real action in extra time it was off to penalties. Its cruel yes, but it’s exciting. It was 4-4 on penalties, the last Thistle player to take one was Docherty who decided he was going to pass back to the Staggies goalie instead of just toeing it goalwards. Sims stepped up for County and slotted it in. 5-4 on penalties, heartbreaking.

Many around me commented on how this felt like Thistle had been relegated instead of coming so close to promotion. As Nick Walsh celebrated with the County players ( he didn’t really but it wouldn’t have surprised me if I’d seen it) we trudged out the stadium and slowly made our way back to where we all came from.

Dingwall was an experience. Hospitality wise I don’t think I would even bother ever going back, and that is no matter what my mode of transport I would be using at the time.

The Partick Thistle fans are among the friendliest group of folk you are likely to meet and if you ever get the chance go and sample a game of theirs home or away, trust me, you won’t be disappointed.