Matthew Shields
Matthew Shields
Matthew Shields
● Matthew Shields, 2003 (SD)

born in Scotland

Matthew John Shields was born on Monday, 17th February, 1986, in Glasgow.

The 5' 9 (10st 2lbs) forward signed for John Lambie's Thistle on Wednesday, 16th April, 2003 (having already appeared as a youth), having most recently been with Partick Thistle Boys Club.

Aged 17, he made his debut appearance on Wednesday, 26th March, 2003, in a 4-0 friendly win away to Montrose.

Amazingly, Matthew scored his only three goals for Thistle on the same day; on Saturday, 17th July, 2004, in an 18-0 friendly win away to Royal Highland Fusiliers.

His account-opening hat-trick came in his fourth and final appearance for the club.

Matthew's club-list included Partick Thistle and Neilston Juniors.

Bio Extra

Gerry Britton once singled him out as the "one to watch" but it never happened for the youngster at Thistle. The 17-year-old got his first minutes in a mid-season friendly at Montrose in March 2003 and just 6 weeks later John Lambie put him on during his (then) "Firhill farewell" game at home to Dundee United in the Premier League, which Thistle lost by a goal to nil. That proved to Matthew's sole competitive appearance. He didn't feature at all for any of the Collins / Britton & Whyte managerial permutations in 2003-04, but the 18-year-old did figure in Britton/Whyte's pre-season plans in the summer of 2004, notably grabbing a hat-trick in the club's record 18-0 win over the Royal Highland Fusiliers over in Cyrpus! By 2008, Matthew was living and studying in America and playing for a team which he named as 'New York IT Athletic' on his social media at the time, although we're struggling to identify such a club, so have left them off the list for now. By 2009-10, he was back in Scotland and turned out for Neilston Juniors.

(WS/SD)



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