17th Jan 2015 St Johnstone 2 Partick Thistle 0 (SPFL Premiership - game 20)

matches:2014-15: ← 29game 3031 →

	Tommy Wright	Alan Archibald	37y, 6m, 4d

		Dan Seaborne; Abdul Osman
		Liam Lindsay; Gary Fraser

Dave Mackay (0-1, 4 mins); Steven Anderson (0-2, 49 mins)
Steven MacLean (0-1, 4 mins); David Wotherspoon (0-2, 49 mins)
Steven Anderson		Dale Keenan

Chris Millar (Scott Brown, 23 mins); Michael O'Halloran (Gary McDonald, 72 mins); Brian Easton (Tam Scobbie)		Steven Lawless (Kallum Higginbotham, 59 mins); Kris Doolan (Nathan Eccleston, 65 mins); Stephen O'Donnell (David Wilson [ii], 73 mins)

	Alan Mannus	Paul Gallacher	35y, 5m, 1d
	Dave Mackay	Stephen O'Donnell	22y, 8m, 6d
	Simon Lappin	Dale Keenan	20y, 6m, 21d
	Frazer Wright	Dan Seaborne	27y, 10m, 12d
	future Jag Steven Anderson	Conrad Balatoni	23y, 11m, 21d
	Chris Millar	Abdul Osman	27y, 10m, 21d
	Steven MacLean	Stuart Bannigan	22y, 4m, 0d
	David Wotherspoon	Ryan Stevenson	30y, 4m, 24d
	Liam Caddis	Kris Doolan	28y, 1m, 6d
	Brian Easton	Steven Lawless	23y, 9m, 5d
	Michael O'Halloran	Declan McDaid	19y, 1m, 26d

			25y, 7m, 24d

	Steve Banks	Scott Fox	27y, 6m, 20d
	future Jag Tam Scobbie	James Craigen	23y, 9m, 20d
	Gary McDonald	Freddy Frans	26y, 0m, 14d
	future Jag Brian Graham	Kallum Higginbotham	25y, 7m, 2d
	future Jag Gary Miller	Nathan Eccleston	24y, 0m, 18d
	Scott Brown	David Wilson [ii]	20y, 4m, 11d
	Chris Kane	Liam Lindsay	19y, 3m, 5d

TTA report

A wicked deflection put Saints ahead (4). Thistle had lots of possession but made little use of it. Stevenson hit the bar (18) and it was as near as they got. Poor marking at a corner led to the 2nd goal (49). Eccleston rounded the keeper but his shot was cleared off the line (67). Worryingly poor.

Media report

17-Jan-2015, ptfc.co.uk

Having travelled up to Dingwall last weekend only to see the game against Ross County postponed early on Saturday morning, Thistle made the shorter trip back up the A9 to Perth this weekend. The Jags were set to face a St Johnstone side who had tasted back to back defeats in their first two games of 2015. With Thistle not having won in Perth since 1993 it has never been a happy hunting ground, but hopes were high that, with manager Alan Archibald having a few familiar faces to recall to the squad, the Jags could lay the ghost to rest. Dan Seaborne and Abdul Osman returned to the starting 11 in place of Liam Lindsay and Gary Fraser who was ill. Freddy Frans and Kallum Higginbotham also returned to the bench. Youngsters Dale Keenan and Declan McDaid kept their places in the side after impressive displays against Dundee United.

After only ten seconds Kris Doolan almost got in behind the Perth side’s defence which, eventually, managed to scramble the ball clear. However, after only three minutes, it was the home side who took the lead. The Thistle defence had a couple of chances to clear an Easton cross ball and when the ball broke to Mackay his 20 yard shot took a deflection off Seaborne and crept in at Gallacher’s near post. The home side almost extended their lead when a Lappin cross found Caddis rising above the unsuspecting Keenan forcing Gallacher into a brilliant fingertip save from the header. Thistle hit back and a good Bannigan pass allowed Keenan to drive forward and his 25 yard shot was blocked by Wright. The Jags came closer still after Doolan had got the better of Mackay and won a corner. Bannigan’s took the set piece and found Stevenson 14 yards out. The Jags’ number 10 turned two defenders and his rocket shot smashed off the Saints bar with Mannus rooted to the spot – surely a Thistle equaliser was on the cards? The Saints weren’t for lying down though and it wasn’t long before Wotherspoon sent a 22 yard shot wide of Gallacher’s post. Thistle enjoyed the majority of possession, but again the ball in the final third of the park was lacking the creative and killer touch to trouble the home side’s defence. With Saints happy to sit back and hit on the counter attack it was already proving a tough afternoon for the Thistle front line. As the first half ticked on a great ball from Stevenson found McDaid but, as he cut into the box, there was no support and he fired into the side netting from an acute angle. Balatoni and O’Donnell then did well to crowd out O’Halloran after he had burst clean through from a long punt up the pitch and then only a terrific last ditch tackle from Seaborne on McLean prevented any more scoring as the teams went in at half time with the score at 1-0 to the Perth Saints.

There were no changes for either side into the second half and McDaid saw his half volley blocked in the early stages. However, yet again, three minutes into the half and the Saints extended their lead with a simple goal. Wotherspoon swung in a corner and Anderson rose, completely unmarked, to glance a powerful header at the near post past Gallacher to make it 2-0. Lappin nearly extended the lead further with a curling effort from 25 yards. Mannus then needed two attempts to gather a Doolan effort from the edge of the box after he had turned Wright, Mannus gathering at the second attempt – just before McDaid could get a touch. Higginbotham and Eccleston replaced Lawless and Doolan respectively and the two combined in the 67th minute when Thistle should have been back in the game. A lovely through pass behind the defence sent Eccleston clean through on Mannus, he elected to go round the keeper but saw his shot cleared off the line by Easton. A dangerous Bannigan cross evaded Eccleston and McDaid saw his cross deflected by Easton into the keeper’s arms. With five minutes left good pressure by Bannigan saw him force a mistake from Mackay and his pass found Higginbotham who fired wide from 22 yards. The last chance of the game came in injury time when Stevenson fired a 35 yard shot towards the top corner, forcing a magnificent save from Mannus. It was the home side who were celebrating at the final whistle, a goal early in each half enough to give them a 2-0 victory while, for Thistle, despite all their possession, a lack of a cutting edge in the final third of the park proved costly.

STILL NINTH

● Paul nudges back ahead of Scott by 13 to 12 competitive game appearances for the season. Statistically, Scott has the better record with 1 more clean-sheet, 2 more wins and 2 less defeats.

● Referee Greig Aitken handles his first-ever competitive Thistle game.

● In his fifth competitive outing this season, Dale picks up his first yellow card.

● Thistle are now 19 Premiership games without a win in the disciplinary stakes.

● Steven is involved in a substition for the 20th time in his 23 competitive appearances this season - a ratio which would surely result in a club season record if present levels were maintained.

● Stephen, the subject of much transfer speculation this week, is involved in a substitution for the first time, on his 19th competitive appearance of the season.

● Thistle are now 9 competitive games without a win against St Johnstone, and 16 competitive games without a win in Perth.

● George Easton and Bertie Auld are now in an ultra rare group of only two Thistle managers who've remained unbeaten after trips to Perth.

● In their 28th competitive match of 2014-15, this is St Johnstone's first 2 goal victory of the season.

● Those who like to depict W-D-L outcomes using three nice colours will be delighted to note that Thistle's amazingly stripy sequence now stretches to 27, meaning the club have played 26 competitive matches since the colour repeated.

● Thistle have failed to score in 7 of their last 10 away matches.

● For the 8th League match in a row, Thistle remain 9th in the Premiership.

ongoing sequences:

● 10 consecutive competitive appearances for Stephen O'Donnell and Ryan Stevenson (a new personal best), 8th Nov 2014 to date. (Longest run since: Abdul Osman - 22 games, 13th Aug 2014 to 27th Dec 2014. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

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