The Thistle Archive

At the third time of asking Thistle got their first league point of the season but were left ruing an uncharacteristic error from keeper Scott Fox that prevented new signing Christie Elliott from making a headline grabbing scoring debut for Thistle. Thistle wore their black away kit for the first time for this fixture and brought Iain Flannigan into the starting eleven as Chris Erskine, yet to hit top form this season, dropped to the bench. Conrad Balatoni also returned to the side to replace the injured Willie Kinniburgh while new signing Christie Elliott started the game on the bench. With Thistle still looking for their first points of the season they started the game in determined fashion. Twice David Rowson was able to get into good positions but on neither occasion was able to make the Hamilton goalkeeper work. Scott Fox on the other hand was called into action for the first time in the 8th minute. Matthew Paterson was able to get the wrong side of Conrad Balatoni but Fox was off his line quickly to block. This was proving to be an open game and after Paterson’s chance play quickly moved to the other end and Tommy Stewart saw his shot palmed away by Tomas Cerny. Two minutes later Thistle hearts were in mouths when James Chambers went to ground inside the Thistle box under q challenge by Scott Fox. Referee Brines though ignored the Hamilton appeals for a penalty and instead booked Chambers while Fox was able to continue after receiving treatment from Kenny Crichton. Some of Hamilton’s approach play was quite slick and in the 24th minute Grant Gillespie’s through ball was collected by Paterson but his shot was too high and went over the Thistle crossbar. That chance came at the end of a good spell of pressure from Hamilton but in the 25th minute Thistle were close to opening the scoring. David Rowson was able to get his head to an Iain Flannigan cross but could only glance the ball wide of the Cerny’s right hand post. Thistle did have the ball in the net on the half hour mark when Kris Doolan converted a Tommy Stewart cut back but Stewart had taken the ball out of play before cutting the ball back. In the 39th minute Hamilton had the best chance yet to open the scoring. The always dangerous Dougie Imrie was able to thread the ball through to Matthew Paterson who with just Scott Fox left to beat looked odds on to score but disappointingly, from a Hamilton perspective, couldn’t hit target with his shot. Nor could Tommy Stewart for Thistle as the first half drew to a conclusion. Iain Flannigan’s first cross into the box was blocked by a Hamilton defender but his second effort found Stewart who shot over the bar. There were loud Hamilton appeals for a penalty in the 57th minute when Imrie went to ground inside the box with Brines again ignoring the Hamilton appeals and Imrie’s every touch for the remainder of the game being greeted by a chorus of boos. On the hour mark Thistle made their first change of the afternoon when new signing Christie Elliott came on for Tommy Stewart and Elliot very quickly got himself involved in the thick of the action, crossing for Iain Flannigan who saw his header saved. In next to no time Elliot was celebrating a debut goal, and it was no ordinary goal either. After his surging run took him deep into the Hamilton half, Elliot received a return pass from Iain Flannigan and when left with just Cerny to beat never looked like missing with a shot of power and confidence. Having established a hard fought lead , Thistle conceded an equaliser in the softest of fashions in the 76th minute. Scott Fox fumbling a Willie McLaren corner over his own line and into the net. There was no shortage of effort from either team in their search for a winning goal in the 15 minutes or so that remained but both sides had to content themselves with a point apiece.

ptfc.co.uk

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