11th Feb 2015 Partick Thistle 0 Celtic 3 (SPFL Premiership - game 24)

matches:2014-15: ← 34game 3536 →

Match Information

37y, 6m, 29d			Alan Archibald		Ronny Deila
Scott Fox; Callum Booth; Conrad Balatoni; Lyle Taylor; Declan McDaid
Paul Gallacher; Dan Seaborne; Gary Fraser; Steven Lawless; Kallum Higginbotham
					Gary Mackay-Steven (0-1, 38 secs); Stuart Armstrong (0-2, 30 mins); Stefan Johansen (0-3, 66 mins)
					Nir Bitton (0-1, 38 secs); John Guidetti (0-2, 30 mins); John Guidetti (0-3, 66 mins)
Christie Elliott (Kallum Higginbotham, 70 mins); Lyle Taylor (Kris Doolan, 72 mins); Stuart Bannigan (Gary Fraser, 81 mins)					Stefan Johansen (Liam Henderson, 70 mins); Adam Matthews (Darnell Fisher, 72 mins); Gary Mackay-Steven (Callum McGregor, 82 mins)
27y, 7m, 14d			Scott Fox		Craig Gordon
22y, 9m, 0d			Stephen O'Donnell		Adam Matthews
23y, 8m, 12d			Callum Booth		Emilio Izaguirre
24y, 0m, 15d			Conrad Balatoni		Virgil van Dijk
26y, 1m, 8d			Freddy Frans		Nir Bitton
27y, 11m, 15d			Abdul Osman		Scott Brown
22y, 4m, 25d			Stuart Bannigan		John Guidetti
30y, 5m, 18d			Ryan Stevenson		Stuart Armstrong
24y, 10m, 13d			Lyle Taylor		Gary Mackay-Steven future Jag
23y, 8m, 16d			Christie Elliott		Jason Denayer
19y, 2m, 20d			Declan McDaid		Stefan Johansen
24y, 9m, 20d
35y, 5m, 26d			Paul Gallacher		Lukasz Zaluska
23y, 10m, 14d			James Craigen		Efe Ambrose
28y, 2m, 0d			Kris Doolan		Anthony Stokes
23y, 9m, 30d			Steven Lawless		Stefan Šćepović
25y, 7m, 27d			Kallum Higginbotham		Darnell Fisher
22y, 3m, 25d			Ben Richards-Everton		Callum McGregor
20y, 7m, 9d			Gary Fraser		Liam Henderson

Match Report

TTA report

Thistle kicked off, gave the ball away, poorly cleared corner, 1-0 (38 secs). A long punt through the middle led to the 2nd (30). Thistle settled and Taylor went close with a header and the second half saw several half chances and a pen claim but a poor pass out of defence led to the 3rd from 20 yards (66).

Media report

11-Feb-2015, bbc.com

Celtic's two debutants scored as Partick Thistle were overcome to move the champions three points clear at the top of the Premiership. Gary Mackay-Steven took less than a minute to register his first goal for the club, before Stuart Armstrong soon added a second. They fitted seamlessly into the Celtic side, who attacked at times with impressive pace and precision. The excellent Stefan Johansen added a third to secure a comfortable victory. Craig Gordon stretched his run without conceding to eight games, with the last man to beat him being Armstrong when he was in a Dundee United shirt. Thistle boss Alan Archibald made five changes from the weekend defeat to Inverness , but they rarely troubled the visitors as they ended a fourth game without a win.

Celtic's two ex-Dundee United stars were very quickly into their stride in their new colours. Mackay-Steven was immediately influential, robbing Freddy Frans, scurrying forward and then feeding John Guidetti. The result was a corner kick, and when the ball broke to Mackay-Steven inside the penalty area he turned it low and hard past Scott Fox. With Johansen playing centrally and Armstrong on the left, there was a line of guile and penetration behind the lone striker, Guidetti. For a Partick defence that had been hapless last weekend, the challenge was daunting: how to contain Celtic's blistering attacks. The home side were not helped by the instances when players were caught in possession, or when they tried to spring Lyle Taylor behind the Celtic defence but rushed the delivery of the pass. Taylor was able to trouble the Celtic centre-backs, but the quality of possession wasn't good enough for Thistle to take advantage. Instead, Celtic eased into command. Johansen was prominent, playing first-time passes and clever through-balls, but so, too, was Armstrong. He did not tend to play wide while at Dundee United, but he was busy in the opening half and forced a diving save from Fox. The goalkeeper had to be similarly sharp to save a Johansen effort after Scott Brown had robbed Stuart Bannigan. When another opportunity was presented to Armstrong, by his former United teammate Mackay-Steven, the midfielder chose to slip a clever angled pass into Guidetti's path. The striker could not finish, but returned the ball to Armstrong and he confidently converted. Partick were not forlorn, and Taylor headed over Stephen O'Donnell's cross just before the interval.

It was the home side who were purposeful at the beginning of the second half too, with Bannigan claiming that his shot inside the area was blocked by Emilio Izaguirre's hand. The referee Crawford Allan was close at hand and wasn't convinced it was a penalty kick, and the riled home side soon created another chance when Ryan Stevenson crossed and Taylor flicked wide from in front of the near post. Celtic were unruffled, though, and there was time for more impressive play from Johansen, who was elegantly decisive throughout. When Guidetti drew the Partick defenders towards him, the ball broke forward to Johansen, who clinically shot low across Fox and inside the far post. Moments later, the midfielder chipped the ball to Guidetti at the back post, but the striker volleyed over.

Gallery

We're looking for a reliable (and free) solution that will enable us to embed photo galleries from the image hosting site, Flickr, so please get in touch → if you can help. Meantime, you can check Donald Wilson's excellent gallery by clicking on the image below; visit Flickr directly for the full gallery

Video Highlights

(credit: SPFL YouTube )

advertisement

the ultimate destination for the best and latest Thistle multimedia content, from live audio commentary to the latest video interviews and tactical analysis…

…only £7.99 per month

Stats Watch

LEAGUE LOSS TO NIL FAMILIARITY

● Thistle make 5 changes from the side which started in Saturday's Scottish Cup tie. In his 2 year reign, Archie has yet to field the same line up for 3 matches in a row.

● Isolating the fixture list to include League games only, Archie has only once fielded the same team for 3 games in a row. This occured back in August 2013 when Jags played Dundee United [h] D0-0; Ross County [a] W3-1; Heart of Midlothian [h] D1-1. The "3 in-a-row" League team were: Scott Fox, Stephen O'Donnell, Aaron Taylor-Sinclair, Sean Welsh, Aaron Muirhead, Conrad Balatoni, Gary Fraser, Stuart Bannigan, Kris Doolan, James Craigen, Steven Lawless. The continuity was broken when Sean Welsh went off injured, and was replaced by Isaac Osbourne in the next match, a 1-0 defeat at Fir Park which ended Thistle's 19 game unbeaten run in the League.

● The attendance figure of 5,766 is down 28% from last season's 7,978. The overall like for like figures for our 13 League fixtures remain down 31% on last season.

● Crawford Allan becomes the first referee to use vanishing spray in a Partick Thistle League match.

● Strangely, this is the second Thistle v Celtic game in a row to finish cardless. The last time we had such friendliness twice in a season was with Queen of the South in 2009-10.

● According to OPTA, Partick Thistle have conceded nine goals from outside the box this season, the highest total of any Premiership side.

● Thistle's last 8 League defeats have all been to nil.

● Celtic depart Firhill having extended their clean-sheets competitive game time beyond the 12 hours mark.

● Thistle have now lost their last 15 League meetings with Celtic. Such a run against another club is unprecedented in our history, with every defeat extending the unwanted record. The longest such streak previously was 13 consecutive League defeats to Rangers, set between 1897 and 1906.

● Declan gets his 3rd competitive start and once again proves to be un-subbable as he picks up the man of the match award.

● Thistle stay 9th in the Premiership for the 12th match in a row.

ongoing sequences:

● 15 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.)

● 31 competitive games since back-to-back draws, 7th May 2014 to date. (Longest run since: 59 games, 18th Aug 2009 to 11th Dec 2010. Club-record: 201 games, 11th Feb 1957 to 1st Apr 1961.)

● 64 competitive games since back-to-back wins, 14th Sep 2013 to date. (Longest run since the club-record: 69 games, 31st Dec 1907 to 9th Oct 1909.)

● 64 League games since back-to-back Top Flight wins, 9th May 2004 to date. (Longest run since the club-record: 77 games, 2nd Nov 1912 to 5th Dec 1914.)

● 70 competitive games since back-to-back clean-sheets, 6th Aug 2013 to date. (Longest run since: 102 games, 27th Apr 2002 to 23rd Oct 2004. Club-record: 303 games, 26th Feb 1938 to 23rd Jun 1945.)

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.

.

match hubs