The Thistle Archive

Hibs moved up to fifth place in the Scottish Premiership thanks to a sixth goal of the season from Liam Craig. The midfielder arrowed a first-time shot into the top corner from 16 yards on 69 minutes at Firhill. Partick Thistle striker Kris Doolan headed narrowly over and wasted a one-on-one opportunity with a tame shot straight at Ben Williams. The Hibs keeper then kept out a close-range effort from Christie Elliott and tipped away a Ross Forbes shot. Craig's impressive finish was just Hibs' eighth goal in nine league outings, pushing the Edinburgh side level on 14 points with fourth-placed Aberdeen. Play mediaJump media playerMedia player helpOut of media player. The defeat means the Jags are still without a victory at home in the Premiership and have gone six games since their last win. Four minutes into the match the hosts earned an indirect free-kick on the visitors' six yard line after Williams collected a back-pass, but Sean Welsh's powerful drive was blocked by Michael Nelson. Moments later, Thistle keeper Scott Fox had to rely on some deft footwork to prevent Paul Heffernan latching onto a long ball. Stuart Bannigan fired a ball into the Hibs penalty area for Kallum Higginbotham to run onto, but Paul Hanlon made a surgically-precise tackle to clear the danger. Soon after, Higginbotham drilled in a 25-yard half-volley that Williams did well to contain. Hibs' best chance of the first period came from a Heffernan shot from the edge of the Thistle penalty area that drifted two yards wide of Fox's right-hand post. As the interval neared, Thistle full-back Stephen O'Donnell raced down the right and curved in a cross that Doolan leapt to meet, but his header flew just too high. Five minutes after the restart, Doolan was allowed to race onto O'Donnell's long ball, but the striker could not take advantage of a free run at goal as his shot was comfortably saved by Williams. Welsh had a penalty claim waved away by referee Kevin Clancy and Higginbotham should have done better with a shot that cut across the Hibs penalty area. However, it was the visitors who finally opened the scoring in the 69th minute when substitute Abdellah Zoubir cut the ball across the 18-yard line for Craig to blast high into the net. With 10 minutes remaining, a corner for Thistle drifted across the face of goal, but no Jags jerseys were on hand to profit. The home side kept pressing and Elliot's shot from six yards was stopped by the foot of Williams at full-stretch. The Hibs captain had to get back to his feet quickly and was alert enough to spring up to his left and push away a 20-yard strike from Forbes. The same player was over a free-kick in added-on time but delivered something of an anti-climax for the home fans, the ball sailing over the bar and with it any hope of salvaging a point.

bbc.com

advertisement

.