29th Nov 2014 Partick Thistle 2 Hamilton Academical 0 (Scottish Cup 4th Round)

matches:2014-15: ← 22game 2324 →

Match Information

37y, 4m, 16d			Alan Archibald		Alex Neil
Gary Fraser; Ryan Stevenson; Kallum Higginbotham
James Craigen; Kris Doolan; Steven Lawless
Ryan Stevenson (1-0, 19 mins); Ryan Stevenson (2-0, 54 mins)
Gary Fraser (1-0, 19 mins); Jake Carroll (2-0, 54 mins)
Dan Seaborne; Gary Fraser; Christie Elliott					Jason Scotland
					Dougie Imrie (@ 2-0, 88 mins)
Ryan Stevenson (Kris Doolan, 68 mins); Gary Fraser (James Craigen, 77 mins); Kallum Higginbotham (Steven Lawless, 83 mins)					Grant Gillespie (Jon Routledge, 56 mins); Danny Redmond (Louis Longridge, 56 mins); Ziggy Gordon (Mickael Antoine-Curier, 71 mins)
35y, 3m, 13d			Paul Gallacher		Michael McGovern
22y, 6m, 18d			Stephen O'Donnell		Ziggy Gordon future Jag
23y, 3m, 18d			Jake Carroll		Stephen Hendrie future Jag
27y, 8m, 24d			Dan Seaborne		Martin Canning
25y, 10m, 26d			Freddy Frans		Grant Gillespie
27y, 9m, 2d			Abdul Osman		Dougie Imrie
22y, 2m, 12d			Stuart Bannigan		Jason Scotland
20y, 4m, 27d			Gary Fraser		Ali Crawford
30y, 3m, 5d			Ryan Stevenson		Darian MacKinnon future Jag
23y, 6m, 3d			Christie Elliott		Jesús García Tena
25y, 5m, 14d			Kallum Higginbotham		Danny Redmond
25y, 10m, 6d
27y, 5m, 1d			Scott Fox		Darren Hill
23y, 10m, 2d			Conrad Balatoni		Mikey Devlin
23y, 8m, 1d			James Craigen		Jon Routledge
27y, 11m, 18d			Kris Doolan		Craig Watson
23y, 7m, 17d			Steven Lawless		Louis Longridge
20y, 2m, 23d			David Wilson [ii]		Eamonn Brophy
19y, 0m, 7d			Declan McDaid		Mickael Antoine-Curier

Match Report

TTA report

Thistle looked 2nd best until they settled and after that Hamilton seldom threatened. Stevenson volleyed home a corner (19) then Higginbotham should have made it 2-0. His fine run down the left set up Carroll's pass inside for Stevenson to side-foot home (54). Accies had Imrie sent off (88).

Media report

29-Nov-2014, ptfc.co.uk

It was a break from Premiership action for the Jags as they welcomed Hamilton back to Firhill looking to avenge the late goals that cost us all three points the last time the two sides met at Firhill. Manager, Alan Archibald, made three changes to the side that had narrowly lost to Aberdeen the previous Sunday. Gary Fraser, Kallum Higginbotham and Ryan Stevenson all started the game in exchange for James Craigen, Steven Lawless and Kris Doolan who all dropped to the bench. Paul Gallacher kept his place in goal as Scott Fox, who had recovered from illness, had to settle for a place on the bench. Dan Seaborne captained the side.

The home team started the brighter and, while not creating anything clear cut in the opening stages, they were certainly on the front foot as Bannigan and Elliott did well to work an opening down the right before Accies eventually scrambled clear the danger. Crawford then went close for the visitors when he was allowed to advance on the Thistle defence from a move that started just inside the Jags’ half. Thankfully his curling effort from 18 yards went just wide. It was Imrie who had a chance next collecting the ball after a poor pass from Frans. Luckily Bannigan was alert and sharp enough to snuff out the danger after the ball was played through to MacKinnon.

Despite some pressure from Hamilton it was Thistle who drew first blood, opening the scoring on the 19th minute. Great play by Higginbotham saw him win a corner and, from Fraser’s delivery, he found Stevenson at the back post who rose to challenge for the ball. When the ball broke kindly for the former Hearts man he smashed an unstoppable half volley past McGovern to open his thistle account in spectacular style and make it 1-0. A couple of minutes later and it should have been 2-0 when that man again, Stevenson, should really have doubled his haul. Frans rose well in the box and his header down found Stevenson just eight yards out but he fired wildly over from a position that was much easier to score from than his earlier effort. The Jags then broke at pace from an Accies corner when Bannigan found Stevenson who sent a wonderful ball out right but O’Donnell and Fraser could not create anything as the Accies players got back to defend. Crawford had the games next chance when he saw his 30 yard effort go a yard wide of the target as the game became a little bogged down in midfield. Just before half time there were chances for both sides. Firstly, Stevenson did well to hold up the ball for Higginbotham in the box not once but twice with the latter’s spectacular shot being blocked. But then it was Accies’ turn as Scotland, who looked suspiciously offside, forced a great tackle from Seaborne who berated the linesman to such an extent that he found himself going into the book.

Into the second half and, with the Jags leading 1-0, they continued to force Hamilton deeper. A Stevenson left foot shot was blocked after Higginbotham carved the chance, however a second goal was not long round the corner. In the 53rd minute, Bannigan started the move with a lovely pass to Higginbotham who skipped past a dangerous challenge and then slipped a great ball into Jake Carroll. The Irishman looked up and found Stevenson with his cut back who slotted home from 10 yards out with the inside of his right foot to make it 2-0.

Stevenson then tried his luck for a hat trick from 25 yards but fired well over. At the other end, as Accies tried desperately to get themselves back into the game, Gordon fired high from 20 yards before Tena clipped a well struck curling free kick off the top of the bar – much to Paul Gallacher’s relief. Gary Fraser had a chance to make it three with a vicious dipping 25 yard shot which beat McGovern but went just inches over. Accies’ keeper was nearly embarrassed by his defender when Hendrie miss-judged a back pass and looked a relieved man when he watched the ball dribble an inch wide of goal. There were to be two further chances before full time – both for Thistle. O’Donnell forced a good save from McGovern and, from the resulting corner, Doolan forced McGovern into a world class one handed save high to his left. There was still time for Imrie to be sent off for a shocking challenge on Carroll as the Jags ran out comfortable winners.

Scrapbook

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The Sun, 1st December,

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Video Highlights

(credit: The Scottish Cup )

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Stats Watch

STRANGE STREAK

● Thistle's 123rd Scottish Cup campaign gets underway.

● Ryan Stevenson gets his first competitive goal for Thistle.

● In our 23rd match, Dougie Imrie becomes the first player to be sent off against Thistle this season.

● There were seven non-Scots on the field for Thistle for several minutes (77 to 83) in the second half. This is the fifth such occurrence.

● This victory created a rather strange streaks record as it was the 20th consecutive game with a differing outcome (in terms of W-D-L) to the preceding game. The longest streak previously was 16 games from 14th April 1920 to 2nd October 1920.

ongoing sequences:

● 22 consecutive competitive appearances for Christie Elliott, 19th Apr 2014 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Kallum Higginbotham - 33 games; 10th Aug 2013 to 26th Mar 2014. 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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