14th Mar 2015 Partick Thistle 3 St Johnstone 0 (SPFL Premiership - game 29)

matches:2014-15: ← 39game 4041 →

37y, 8m, 1d	Alan Archibald	Tommy Wright

Scott Fox; Callum Booth; Kris Doolan; Ryan Stevenson
Paul Gallacher; Dale Keenan; Lyle Taylor; Kallum Higginbotham

Kris Doolan (1-0, 3 mins); Conrad Balatoni (2-0, 9 mins); Stuart Bannigan (3-0, 65 mins)
Abdul Osman (1-0, 3 mins); Stuart Bannigan (2-0, 9 mins); none (3-0, 65 mins)
Stephen O'Donnell		Murray Davidson

Steven Lawless (David Wilson [ii], 81 mins); Kris Doolan (Lyle Taylor, 83 mins); Stuart Bannigan (Gary Fraser, 86 mins)		David Wotherspoon (James McFadden, 55 mins); Danny Swanson (Lee Croft, 66 mins); Steven MacLean (Chris Kane, 78 mins)

27y, 8m, 14d	Scott Fox	Alan Mannus
22y, 10m, 3d	Stephen O'Donnell	Dave Mackay
23y, 9m, 12d	Callum Booth	Tam Scobbie future Jag
24y, 1m, 15d	Conrad Balatoni	Steven Anderson future Jag
26y, 2m, 11d	Freddy Frans	Chris Millar
28y, 0m, 15d	Abdul Osman	Steven MacLean
22y, 5m, 25d	Stuart Bannigan	David Wotherspoon
23y, 11m, 14d	James Craigen	Danny Swanson
28y, 3m, 3d	Kris Doolan	Murray Davidson
23y, 11m, 2d	Steven Lawless	Brian Easton
30y, 6m, 18d	Ryan Stevenson	Michael O'Halloran

25y, 7m, 15d

35y, 6m, 26d	Paul Gallacher	Steve Banks
22y, 4m, 25d	Ben Richards-Everton	Frazer Wright
20y, 8m, 12d	Gary Fraser	Brian Graham future Jag
20y, 6m, 8d	David Wilson [ii]	James McFadden
19y, 3m, 20d	Declan McDaid	Gary Miller future Jag
24y, 11m, 13d	Lyle Taylor	Lee Croft
20y, 8m, 15d	Dale Keenan	Chris Kane

TTA report

Doolan headed in an Osman cross (3). Balatoni's stooping header from a corner (9) made it 2-0 then Stevenson and Doolan went close. Saints had as much of the ball but made few chances. Bannigan smashed in the 3rd from just outside the “D” (65). An excellent win, priceless 3 points. No failures.

Media report

14-Mar-2015, bbc.com

Partick Thistle took a big step towards Scottish Premiership safety as they benefited from a blistering opening 10 minutes at home to St Johnstone. Kris Doolan and Conrad Balatoni headed home amidst a flurry of early chances to give the home side a dream start. As St Johnstone toiled Thistle continued on the front foot and Stuart Bannigan's long-range drive eventually added a deserved third. Saints managed a brief flurry but goalkeeper Scott Fox had little to do. It was Alan Archibald's first win over the Perth men since they returned to the top flight, and Thistle's first over Saints since 2008. More importantly, with the three sides below them in the table all failing to pick up a win, Thistle stretch the gap between themselves and the danger zone to nine points.

The threat of the drop had lingered around Maryhill pre-match and it clearly inspired something within the bowels of Firhill as they stormed out of the blocks in a devastating opening spell. Abdul Osman's ball into the box was easily dispatched into the net by Doolan, who was allowed an unchallenged header from close range. He should have scored again when he rounded goalkeeper Alan Mannus minutes later, but this time his left foot shot spun well wide. The early chances continued and when Brian Easton conceded a cheap corner, Balatoni stooped in to send his low header inside the near post. Ryan Stevenson's shot was tipped over as Tommy Wright's men were again cut open, looking a pale shadow of the team that had won at Celtic Park just 10 days previous. Despite the blistering start it had not been all one-way traffic. David Wotherspoon in particular was looking busy, firing in a couple of corners and also drilling a low shot at goal.

Saints lacked the sparkle of their hosts, though, and the deficit nearly grew when Murray Davidson headed the ball back into his own box. Stevenson was quickest to react, leaving the Saints defence in his wake, but he could not hide his frustration as he cracked a volley off the post. The home side were beginning to play with a confidence that had been lacking from recent performances, and Balatoni and James Craigen kept the pressure on the visitors, but could not keep their efforts on target. That was not a problem suffered by Bannigan who made it three with a thumping drive from the edge of the box that gave Mannus little chance. Saints rallied for a brief period, partly due to the introduction of James McFadden, but they never looked like scoring and Stevenson almost had the last say when he hit a shot past the post.

A HAPPY MILESTONE DAY FOR BANZO

● This was the 50th League game at Firhill between the two. The Magyars now lead the series by 22 wins to 15.

● Kris gets his first start since January, when he was voted player of the month.

● Abdul gets his first-ever assist for the Jags.

● Kris takes his all-games goals tally into double-figures for the 5th consecutive season. He is the 10th Thistle player to have achieved this in our history, and the first to do since Denis McQuade, who registered 5 such seasons from 1970-71 onwards. Only 2 men have ever went beyond this point for Thistle - Jimmy Walker (7 seasons from 1947-48) and John Torbet (6 seasons from 1926-27).

● One more League goal from the number nine would take his competitive-games goals tally to 10 for the 5th consecutive season - his pre-season stated target. Only 3 other men have done that in Thistle's history, and the last to do so was Jimmy Walker more than 60 years ago. It would be another great reason to celebrate what would also be his milestone 75th competitive goal for the Jags.

● Conrad scores his first for the calendar year. Amazingly, he's only the second defender ever to have scored for Thistle in 5 consecutive seasons, the other being Kenny Watson back in the 1980s.

● Stuart marks his 100th League start with an assist and an absolute peach of a goal.

● This success ends a run of 9 games without a win against St Johnstone. Our last victory against them was a 4-0 thumper in one of the aforementioned League games at Firhill, back in August 2008.

● One more goal would have equalled our greatest margin of victory of St Johnstone which currently stands at 4 goals, achieved 4 times in 1928, 1971, 1985 and 2008.

● Thistle are now on a run of 11 games without defeat in matches where we've taken the lead.

● Thistle's last 6 victories have all been to nil. These wins also represent our last 6 clean-sheets.

● Thistle have played 8 games since a draw.

● Ironically, Thistle win on the day that they match the club-record of playing 69 competitive games without back-to-back wins. Next week's game represents a 17th (and final) chance to avoid a new outright record for the category.

ongoing sequences:

● 20 consecutive competitive appearances for Stephen O'Donnell, 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.)

● 36 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.)

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

● 69 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.)

● 75 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.)

● Thistle stay 9th in the Premiership for the 17th match in a row. (Longest run since the club-record: 33 games in 12th, 20th Sep 2003 to 15th May 2004.)

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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