21st Jul 2012 Partick Thistle 2 Celtic XI 0 (ARR Craib Cup Semi Final)

matches:2012-13: ← 02game 0304 →

Match Information

38y, 8m, 27d			Jackie McNamara		Stephen Frail
					Danny McGrain
Stephen O'Donnell; Aaron Taylor-Sinclair; Chris Erskine
David Rowson; Sean Welsh; Mark McGuigan
Sean Welsh (1-0, 32 mins); Steven Lawless (2-0, 49 mins)
Paul Paton (1-0, 32 mins); Christie Elliott (2-0, 49 mins)
Aaron Taylor-Sinclair (Sean Welsh, 30 mins); Steven Lawless (James Craigen, 62 mins); Christie Elliott (Kris Doolan, 62 mins); Chris Erskine (Mark McGuigan, 62 mins); Stephen O'Donnell (Conrad Balatoni, 73 mins); Hugh Murray (Bradley Halsman, 76 mins)					Lewis Toshney (Paul Slane, 58 mins); Patrick Twardzk (Daniel Fisher, 58 mins); Ibrahim Rabiu (Bahrudin Atajić, 70 mins); Andre Blackman (Joe Chalmers, 86 mins)
25y, 0m, 23d			Scott Fox		Robbie Thomson
20y, 2m, 10d			Stephen O'Donnell		Lewis Toshney
21y, 3m, 13d			Aaron Taylor-Sinclair		Andre Blackman
25y, 3m, 3d			Paul Paton		Marcus Fraser
21y, 10m, 21d			Aaron Muirhead		Josh Thompson
34y, 7m, 8d			Alan Archibald		Jackson Irvine
21y, 3m, 9d			Steven Lawless		Patrick Twardzk
19y, 10m, 4d			Stuart Bannigan		Ibrahim Rabiu
21y, 1m, 25d			Christie Elliott		Morten Rasmussen
33y, 6m, 13d			Hugh Murray		Calum McGregor
25y, 5m, 13d			Chris Erskine		Tony Watt future Jag
24y, 6m, 2d
18y, 5m, 5d			James Wightman		Glenn Daniëls future Jag
25y, 7m, 10d			Kris Doolan		Bahrudin Atajić
22y, 4m, 6d			Sean Welsh		Joe Chalmers
23y, 8m, 14d			Mark McGuigan		Paul Slane future Jag
21y, 5m, 24d			Conrad Balatoni		Daniel Fisher
21y, 3m, 23d			James Craigen
19y, 3m, 9d			Bradley Halsman
35y, 10m, 7d			David Rowson

Match Report

TTA report

ARR Craib Cup. A comfortable win over a disappointing Celtic XI. Thistle largely dominated the game and after Celtic had gone close, Welsh scored with a header (32). An excellent finish by Lawless (49) made it 2-0. A smart free-kick (74) almost beat Fox but Thistle ran out worthy winners.

Media report

21-Jul-2012, ptfc.co.uk

Thistle reached tomorrow’s Final of the ARR Craib Cup with a comfortable and merited 2-0 with over a Celtic XI that offered little in the way of resistance to Thistle who dominated almost the entire 90 minutes. It was Celtic, however, that had the game’s first genuine chance. Tony Watt was able to escape his marker at the end of the Thistle box and his effort went wide of Scott Fox’s dive, but also wide of goal. After that early scare Thistle were pretty much in control for the remainder of the half. They came close to scoring in the 8th minute. Steven Lawless’ beautifully weighted pass was collected by Stephen O’Donnell who cross in turn was flicked goalwards by Christie Elliott who saw his effort saved on the line by Robbie Thomson in the Celtic goal. Thomson, arguably the best Celtic player on show, was called into action three minutes later. Chris Erskine ran at the heart of the Celtic defence and after his skill had opened things up he saw his low shot turned round the post for a corner.

Thistle were moving the ball well over the excellent Firhill surface but they were forced to reorganise after Aaron Sinclair and Celtic’s Lewis Toshney clashed heads. The Celtic player was able to continue after being bandaged up but Sinclair was replaced by Sean Welsh. Welsh’s first serious involvement in the game was to put Thistle 1-0 ahead in the 32nd minute. Paul Paton swung the ball over from the right hand side and Welsh’s header found the left hand corner of Thomson’s goal. Welsh could even have had a second goal just three minutes later. Chris Erskine’s trickery give him a clear sight of the Celtic goal inside their penalty box. Thomson, however, made a fine save to deny Erskine goal, with the loose ball falling to Welsh who rather mishit his effort over the bar. Thistle at this stage probably should have been at least a further goal clear and they were nearly made to pay for a failure to score a second goal when Scott Fox had to tip a Rasmussen effort over the bar. The half finished though with Thistle firmly on top and after Christie Elliott had been fouled just outside the Celtic penalty box, Aaron Muirhead was unlucky to see his well struck free-kick pushed away by Thomson.

It took Thistle just 4 minutes of the second half to net the second goal that their play clearly merited. After good work from Christie Elliott, Steven Lawless netted his fourth pre-season goal with an excellent finish from the edge of the box. With a regular flow of substitutes throughout the second half there wasn’t the same degree of fluidity to Thistle’s performance as there had been during the opening half. They did, however, remain much the better side with Celtic only infrequently posing any threat to the Thistle goal. Callum McGregor though did force Scott Fox into a smart save to his left from a free kick in the 74th minute. Thistle though continued to look the more likely to score again. Aaron Muirhead, who impressed in his first Firhill appearance, forced Thomson into a save with a shot from 20 yards and a Kris Doolan shot clipped the edge of the post after the ball had been laid back into his path by Mark McGuigan. Paul Paton too came close with a shot that was just a yard or two too high as Thistle ran out comfortable winners.

Video Highlights

(credits: Camallain / Partick Thistle Television )

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Stats Watch

● 21-year-old James Craigen makes his Thistle debut.

● Celtic (other) become the 141st club to play Partick Thistle in competitive action.

● Thistle play their first match in the ARR Craib Cup, their 49th competition.

ongoing sequences:

● 37 consecutive competitive appearances for Chris Erskine, 27th Aug 2011 to date. (Longest run since: Paul Cairney - 40 games, 30th Jul 2011 to 28th Apr 2012. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

Stats Watch adheres to our stated definitions of League, League Max, Major Competitive, Competitive or All Games. Where there is no written qualification, you should presume that the Stat in question is compiled from the All Games criteria.

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