Partick Thistle U17s 1 Queen’s Park U17s 2 – Quickfire double for Spiders

QUEEN’S PARK under-17s warmed up for the Scottish Youth Cup clash with Rangers this Friday with a hard-fought win over another Glasgow rival, Partick Thistle.

The Jags had made a strong start to the CAS Advanced Youth League campaign, but this result sees Lee Mitchell’s team stretch ten points clear of their fellow Glasgow club.

Despite trailing at the break a strike each from Caiden Wright and Luke Moore within five minutes of the restart gave the Wee Spiders the win.

Queen’s Park could have scored earlier, with chances throughout the first half but were slightly wasteful in the final third and couldn’t take advantage of positive build-up play.

The visiting side’s press in particular was excellent so when the opener did come, it was from a set-play.

That goal shook the Spiders slightly and they took ten minutes or so to regroup before finishing the half on a high, albeit without a goal to their name.

The wait for a response wasn’t long in coming though and Wright scored it.

Lee Mitchell changed the team set-up slightly at half-time and almost instantly the Spiders had a spare man open in each of their attacking moves forward. That helped benefit Wright who had the finishing touch to the equaliser before Moore’s clinical finish proved to be the matchwinner.

The Wee Spiders relaxed and could have added more but looked confident throughout the remainder of the game to go ten points clear of Thistle in the table, and seven ahead of second-placed Ross County, who have a game in hand.

Lee Mitchell said: “Really important win and great to see the reaction at the start of the second half.

“We asked the boys to relax at half time, not to get caught up in the scoreline and focus on our own play.

“We changed the shape slightly at half time as well and it seemed to give us more control and we were able to find the spare player easily at the start of the second half. It was good to see us get two early goals. 

“We played some really good football the second half and got into great areas again, but wasteful with our final pass and probably not good enough with our movement in the box to get another goal. 

“Our game management nearer the end of the game could be better to see the game out more comfortably. But that’s something we’ll learn from and look to sort going forward.”

Next up for the group – plus a few more eligible under-19s – is the under18s Scottish Youth Cup tie against Rangers away at the RTC on Friday night.