8th Apr 2015 Celtic 2 Partick Thistle 0 (SPFL Premiership - game 32)

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matches:2014-15: ← 42game 4344 →

	Ronny Deila	Alan Archibald	37y, 8m, 26d

		Kallum Higginbotham
		Kris Doolan

Kris Commons (0-1, pen 45 mins); Stefan Johansen (0-2, 63 mins)
none (0-1, pen 45 mins); John Guidetti (0-2, 63 mins)

		James Craigen (@ 0-0, 44 mins)
Adam Matthews (Darnell Fisher, 65 mins); Kris Commons (James Forrest, 66 mins); John Guidetti (Leigh Griffiths, 74 mins)		Ryan Stevenson (Lyle Taylor, 55 mins); Steven Lawless (Declan McDaid, 57 mins); Stuart Bannigan (Gary Fraser, 77 mins)

	Craig Gordon	Scott Fox	27y, 9m, 11d
	Adam Matthews	Stephen O'Donnell	22y, 10m, 28d
	Jason Denayer	Callum Booth	23y, 10m, 9d
	Virgil van Dijk	Conrad Balatoni	24y, 2m, 12d
	Emilio Izaguirre	Freddy Frans	26y, 3m, 5d
	Stuart Armstrong	Abdul Osman	28y, 1m, 12d
	Nir Bitton	Stuart Bannigan	22y, 6m, 22d
	Kris Commons	James Craigen	24y, 0m, 11d
	Stefan Johansen	Ryan Stevenson	30y, 7m, 15d
	Gary Mackay-Steven	Steven Lawless	23y, 11m, 27d
	John Guidetti	Kallum Higginbotham	25y, 9m, 24d

			25y, 5m, 18d

	Lukasz Zaluska	Paul Gallacher	35y, 7m, 23d
	Efe Ambrose	Ben Richards-Everton	22y, 5m, 22d
	Anthony Stokes	Declan McDaid	19y, 4m, 17d
	Leigh Griffiths	Gary Fraser	20y, 9m, 6d
	Darnell Fisher	David Wilson [ii]	20y, 7m, 2d
	Callum McGregor	Lyle Taylor	25y, 0m, 10d
	James Forrest	Dale Keenan	20y, 9m, 12d

TTA report

Thistle gradually settled down to play neat, controlled football. A brilliant save denied Higginbotham. Craigen was sent off and Celtic scored with the pen (44). A 2nd goal (63) finished it although the 10 men played well and made a few chances. Fraser's late 20-yarder produced another fine save.

Media report

08-Apr-2015, ptfc.co.uk

Thistle made the short trip across the city to the east end to face a Celtic side looking to extend their lead at the top of the table as they march towards another SPFL Premiership title. Thistle themselves were in great form going into the game with a settled side being key to recent results. Manager, Alan Archibald had to make one change to the starting eleven which had gained an excellent point up at Pittodrie on Saturday, with the injured Kris Doolan being replaced by Kallum Higginbotham while Declan McDaid returned to the bench.

Celtic were straight on the attack as the game began and, from an Armstrong cross, Van Dijk poked a foot out and the ball cannoned back off the bar. It took a last ditch block to stop Guidetti from scoring just seconds later after the Jags had given the ball away cheaply in the second minute. Thistle created their first real chance after eight minutes when a terrific cross field pass from Craigen found Lawless who cut inside across the box, going past three defenders in the process. Unfortunately the ‘Wee Man’s’ right footed shot had no power and trickled wide. At the other end only a magnificent headed clearance by Balatoni stopped Guidetti heading into an open goal as the home side continued to press forward. Thistle gradually got a foothold in the game and Gordon saved comfortably from Stevenson’s shot from distance before producing a world class one handed stop to keep out Higginbotham’s acrobatic volley. As half time approached, Thistle were looking good to go in level but, in the 44th minute, just seconds before the ref was due to blow his whistle, Thistle were cut open as Guidetti found Armstrong who found himself in on goal. Craigen’s threw himself into a last ditch tackle which proved to be just slightly miss-timed. Bringing the onrushing Celtic man down, the referee had no option but to point to the spot and, as last man, send Craigen off. Commons despatched the penalty past Fox to give the home side a 1-0 lead at half time. A cruel end to a half in which Thistle had certainly held their own.

Into the second half and the home side were straight on the attack, Fox making an excellent save from a powerful Commons 25 yarder. A neat one-two between Izaguirre and Johansen then saw the former’s effort on goal go out for a throw in. Despite early Celtic pressure Thistle were still trying to create chances, and Celtic’s defence slashed a couple of clearances that could have gone anywhere. Osman too was in on the action as he fired wide from a central position around 18 yards out. Thistle’s resistance wasn’t to last though and the home side doubled their lead after 63 minutes with what was undoubtedly an excellent goal. Neat and intricate passing involving Mackay-Steven, Guidetti and Johansen ended with the latter firing past Fox from the angle eight yards out. His shot nestling into the far corner. That made it 2-0 and Thistle now had a mountain to climb. Fox kept the score from becoming anything more than Celtic deserved making a great save from Forrest, although referee, Willie Collum, saw fit to give a goal kick – much to the amusement of the noisy Jags support. Balatoni made another terrific block from an Armstrong effort as tired legs kicked in for the Thistle boys who had worked their socks off and thrown their bodies in front of everything from the first minute of the game. Griffiths then missed a sitter from no more than five yards and, at the other end, substitute Lyle Taylor linked up well with O’Donnell to set up a chance for another sub, Gary Fraser, who saw his low powerful 20 yard shot brilliantly saved again by Gordon before the final whistle blew. So, it was not to be Thistle’s night, however the support that travelled recognised the effort and guts of the team throughout the game, fully appreciative of a side that had given everything against a very good team.

20 YEARS OF HURT

● Stephenl registers the season-best appearances run for any player, now standing at 23 consecutive competitive games. His own personal best was 48 competitive games, set in December 2012.

● Kris's non-appearance means that his club-record 37 substitutions in season 2012-13 is now mathematically safe for another season at least.

● James is sent-off for the first time in his senior career.

● Seven consecutive penalty awards have now gone to the opposition. It's the longest streak of awards against Thistle that I know of, with my comprehensive records being strong back to 1996.

● This defeat once again re-sets the all-time club-record for consecutive League losses to any same team, now standing at 16.

● Thistle lose to nil for the 12th time in the League this season. We've only went beyond this total twice before; 13 times in 1908-09 and 15 times in 1995-96.

● Thistle's last 11 competitive away defeats have been to nil. The last time we scored and lost away was in the 4-3 reverse at Fir Park, 14 months ago.

● Failing to score in ten of this season's sixteen away matches means that, of all the clubs in Britain's 10 senior Leagues, Thistle now have the joint-worst ratio (62.5%) for the category.

● Thistle have completely failed to score against both Aberdeen and Celtic in this season's League campaign - a post-reconstruction first. You have to rewind all the way back to season 1973-74 to find the last time we were totally blanked by two League opponents, when the nets of both Dumbarton and Morton went unrippled.

● Thistle have now lost 8 competitive games in a row in games where the first goal has been conceded to the opposition.

● There were no yellow cards for either side in any of this season's League matches against Celtic. I don't know if that's ever happened before, but it's definitely a unique occurrence for Thistle's League seasons in the last 20 years.

ongoing sequences:

● 23 consecutive competitive appearances for Stephen O'Donnell, 8th Nov 2014 to date. (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.)

● 38 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.)

● Thistle are 11 competitive games without defeat when scoring the opening goal.

● Thistle are 17 competitive games without a win when losing the opening goal.

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

● Thistle's last 7 competitive wins have all been to nil.

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