9th Mar 2013 Partick Thistle 3 Dumbarton 0 (SFL First Division - game 25)

matches:2012-13: ← 36game 3738 →

35y, 7m, 24d	Alan Archibald	Ian Murray

James Craigen
Chris Erskine

Steven Lawless (1-0, 9 mins); Steven Lawless (2-0, 74 mins); Kris Doolan (3-0, 81 mins)
Steven Craig (1-0, 9 mins); Stephen O'Donnell (2-0, 74 mins); Christie Elliott (3-0, 81 mins)
Stuart Bannigan		Alan Lithgow

Ross Forbes (Christie Elliott, 63 mins); Steven Craig (Kris Doolan, 75 mins); Stuart Bannigan (Mark McGuigan, 84 mins)		Robbie Winters (Scott Agnew, 67 mins); Jim Creaney (Jim Lister, 75 mins); Garry Fleming (Marc McCusker, 82 mins)

25y, 8m, 9d	Scott Fox	Steve Grindlay
20y, 9m, 26d	Stephen O'Donnell	Paul McGinn future Jag
21y, 11m, 1d	Aaron Taylor-Sinclair	Jim Creaney
24y, 0m, 6d	Ross Forbes	Andy Graham
22y, 6m, 7d	Aaron Muirhead	Alan Lithgow
22y, 1m, 10d	Conrad Balatoni	Chris Turner former Jag
22y, 11m, 22d	Sean Welsh	Mark Gilhaney
20y, 5m, 20d	Stuart Bannigan	Scott Smith
32y, 1m, 4d	Steven Craig	Garry Fleming
21y, 10m, 25d	Steven Lawless	Robbie Winters
21y, 11m, 9d	James Craigen	Steven McDougall

23y, 3m, 26d

18y, 8m, 7d	Glenn Daniëls	Jamie Ewings
26y, 2m, 26d	Kris Doolan	Jim Lister
24y, 4m, 2d	Mark McGuigan	Scott Agnew
21y, 9m, 11d	Christie Elliott	Mark Lamont
35y, 2m, 24d	Alan Archibald	Marc McCusker

TTA report

Dumbarton hit the post in the opening minutes and despite an opener from Lawless (9) it took Thistle time to subdue them. He scored again from 20 yards off the underside of the bar (74) then a fine move down the left led to Doolan blasting home a low cross (81). Not at their best but 3 points in the bag.

Media report

09-Mar-2013, ptfc.co.uk

Alan Archibald’s excellent start as Thistle’s interim manager continued as an unbeaten run was extended to a seventh game with an ultimately comfortable win over Dumbarton. The 3-0 score line, however, only tells half a story. At times, especially in the opening half, this was anything but a routine win for Thistle, and it was only in the final quarter of the game that they truly had a grip on proceedings. Returning to events prior to kick-off, Thistle suffered a blow when pre-match injury doubt Chris Erskine was ruled out. His place in the side went to James Craigen who had been impressive when coming off the bench in the two previous fixtures.

Dumbarton were the last side to defeat Thistle and they were close to taking an early lead in this game. Thistle conceded possession of the ball far too easily in the middle of the park and allowed Garry Fleming to run at the Thistle defence. As things opened up in front of him Fleming was only denied a goal when his shot struck the outside of Scott Fox’s right hand post. In Thistle’s first raid on the Dumbarton goal Grindlay was able to save, but not hold, a well struck effort from Sean Welsh before, after 9 minutes, Thistle opened the scoring. Stephen O’Donnell’s chipped cross from the right was headed down by Steven Craig and Steven Lawless was in the right place to divert the ball into the net. It was thought that that early strike would settle any Thistle nerves but Dumbarton continued to pose the Thistle defence all kinds of problems. They would have been level too in the 13th minute had Scott Fox not done well to block an effort from Gilhaney when the Dumbarton player had looked odds on to score. That in truth was the closest that Dumbarton would come to a goal all afternoon although there appeals for a penalty in the 32nd minute when McDougall went to ground inside the Thistle box. There was little fluency to the Thistle performance at this point although they were close to taking a two goal lead into the dressing room at half-time that they wouldn’t perhaps have deserved. James Craigen did well to set up Sean Welsh at the edge of the Dumbarton box and Welsh’s effort, with Grindlay looking beaten, went narrowly wide of target.

The start of the second half was scrappy and untidy but gradually Thistle were able to take control of the game. Steven Craig, scorer of a hat-trick in the previous game against Dunfermline, saw his effort in the 66th minute parried away by Grindlay and from the corner that followed Craig had the ball in the net when he converted Conrad Balatoni’s knock down; the referee, however, had spotted an infringement and the ‘goal’ was disallowed. Thistle though were given the breathing space of a second goal in the 74th minute and it was another Firhill cracker. Steven Lawless was again the goal scorer; this time finding the net from 20 yards out with a shot that found the net via the underside of the bar. Now with the benefit of a two goal advantage Thistle started to play with much more poise and confidence. Christie Elliott had been introduced as a substitute for Ross Forbes just past the hour mark and he made a big impact during his 30 minutes or so on the park. In Thistle’s first attack after scoring the second goal Aaron Sinclair sent Elliott clear down the left with James Craigen unable to convert Elliott’s near post cross into a goal. Kris Doolan though had better fortune when Thistle grabbed a third goal in the 81st minute. The impressive Elliott got clear down the left and Doolan applied the finish to the cross that followed. With the points now won Thistle could even have added a fourth goal before the end with Aaron Sinclair sending a shot narrowly over the bar. Thistle’s next three games are now all away from home and as a casual glance at the league table will tell you there is an obvious reward should Thistle win the first one of them at Raith Rovers on Tuesday night.

ongoing sequences:

● 4 consecutive clean-sheets in competitive games; 19th Feb 2013 to date. (Longest run since: 4 games; 23rd Oct 1999 to 14th Nov 1999. Club-record: 7 games; 15th Jan 1921 to 15th Feb 1921.)

● 4 consecutive clean-sheets in League games; 19th Feb 2013 to date. (Longest run since: 4 games; 15th Mar 2008 to 1st Apr 2008. Club-record: 5 games; 10th Feb 1968 to 16th Mar 1968.)

● 4 consecutive competitive wins, 19th Feb 2013 to date. (Longest run since: 4 wins, 1st Sep 2012 to 22nd Sep 2012. Club-record: 10 wins, 22nd Oct 1932 to 26th Dec 1932.)

● 4 consecutive League wins; 19th Feb 2013 to date. (Longest run since: 6 wins; 11th Aug 2012 to 22nd Sep 2012. Club-record: 12 wins; 1st Oct 1932 to 26th Dec 1932.)

● 5 consecutive competitive home wins; 19th Jan 2013 to date. (Longest run since the joint club-record: 11 wins; 21st Jul 2012 to 24th Nov 2012 & 26th Aug 1899 to 3rd Feb 1900.)

● 5 consecutive home League wins; 19th Jan 2013 to date. (Longest run since: 8 wins; 11th Aug 2012 to 15th Dec 2012. Joint club-record: 10 wins; 5th Sep 1896 to 25th Sep 1897 & 7th Nov 1970 to 5th Apr 1971.)

● 7 competitive games without defeat, 19th Jan 2013 to date. (Longest run since: 12 games, 14th Apr 2012 to 25th Aug 2012. Joint club-record: 16 games, 15th Nov 1975 to 21st Feb 1976 & 30th Sep 2000 to 13th Jan 2001.)

● 7 League games without defeat, 19th Jan 2013 to date. (Longest run since: 11 games; 14th Apr 2012 to 29th Sep 2012. Club-record: 27 games; 21st Nov 1970 to 18th Sep 1971.)

● 17 consecutive home League games in which Thistle have scored; 31st Mar 2012 to date. (Longest run since: 25 games; 8th Apr 1970 to 27th Nov 1971. Club-record: 26 games; 11th Nov 1911 to 29th Mar 1913.)

● 20 consecutive competitive appearances for Conrad Balatoni, 14th Oct 2012 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Chris Erskine - 70 games, 27th Aug 2011 to 2nd Mar 2013. 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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