16th May 2015 Partick Thistle 1 Kilmarnock 4 (SPFL Premiership - game 37)

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matches:2014-15: ← 47game 4849 →

37y, 10m, 3d	Alan Archibald	Gary Locke

Gary Fraser; Kris Doolan
James Craigen; Ryan Stevenson

Conrad Balatoni (1-3, 68 mins)		Jamie Hamill (0-1, 24 mins); Tope Obadeyi (0-2, 37 mins); Tope Obadeyi (0-3, 63 mins); Josh Magennis (1-4, 72 mins)
Kallum Higginbotham (1-3, 68 mins)		none (0-1, 24 mins); Alexei Eremenko (0-2, 37 mins); Alexei Eremenko (0-3, 63 mins); Alexei Eremenko (1-4, 72 mins)
Callum Booth; Steven Lawless; Kallum Higginbotham		Mark Connolly; Tope Obadeyi

Callum Booth (Christie Elliott, HT); Lyle Taylor (David Wilson [ii], 67 mins); Gary Fraser (James Craigen, 77 mins)		Manuel Pascali (Lee Ashcroft, HT); Greg Kiltie (Rory McKenzie, 73 mins); Alexei Eremenko (Mark O'Hara, 87 mins)

27y, 10m, 18d	Scott Fox	Craig Samson
23y, 0m, 5d	Stephen O'Donnell	Ross Barbour
23y, 11m, 16d	Callum Booth	Jamie Hamill
24y, 3m, 19d	Conrad Balatoni	Mark Connolly
26y, 4m, 13d	Freddy Frans	Tope Obadeyi
22y, 7m, 29d	Stuart Bannigan	Craig Slater future Jag
20y, 10m, 14d	Gary Fraser	Alexei Eremenko
25y, 1m, 17d	Lyle Taylor	Darryl Westlake
28y, 5m, 5d	Kris Doolan	Josh Magennis
24y, 1m, 4d	Steven Lawless	Manuel Pascali
25y, 11m, 1d	Kallum Higginbotham	Greg Kiltie

24y, 9m, 12d

35y, 9m, 0d	Paul Gallacher	Conor Brennan
22y, 6m, 29d	Ben Richards-Everton	Rory McKenzie
24y, 1m, 18d	James Craigen	Chris Johnston
20y, 8m, 10d	David Wilson [ii]	Lee Ashcroft future Jag
23y, 11m, 20d	Christie Elliott	Mark O'Hara
28y, 2m, 19d	Abdul Osman	Paul Cairney former Jag
20y, 0m, 9d	Jack W. Hendry	Nathan Eccleston former Jag

TTA report

Shocking refereeing decisions - a rebounded pen off Fox (24) when the foul was a yard outside the box, a header from a corner (37), a free-kick that never was (63) and a hand ball on the break (72) won it. Thistle, unlucky at times, had most of the ball but lacked punch. Balatoni's header (68) meant little.

Media report

15-May-2015, The Guardian

Some things in football make little sense. Kilmarnock’s handing of the manager’s post to Gary Locke on a three-year deal made perfect sense, both with a need for continuity and a backdrop of decent results as a caretaker in mind. A horrible run of seven straight defeats, the worst in the Ayrshire club’s 146-year history, following that appointment proved more difficult to fathom. Here, Locke pulled out a result when he needed it most. Kilmarnock’s success over Partick Thistle means there will be no play-off for Locke and his players. Top-flight safety has been secured, a fact hailed by a large Kilmarnock contingent in Firhill’s main stand. Relief matched jubilation. Locke, finally, can properly look to the future in optimistic terms. Thistle’s safety had been secured long before this match, in itself worthy of serious praise. The pain of defeat should be taken in the context of a score line which ultimately flattered Kilmarnock.

Aside from four seasons in 15 minutes, the first period was notable for the multiple facets of Alexei Eremenko. The Finland midfielder is one of the most naturally talented footballers in Scotland, let alone Kilmarnock’s team, yet spends too much time at apparent odds with himself and those around him. Eremenko had offered only that frustrated demeanour before playing a crucial part in the two moments which swung the game in Kilmarnock’s favour. How timely that intervention was, not only for Locke but for a game which had been in glaring need of the kind of class Eremenko can provide. For all it would be easy to dismiss Eremenko’s usefulness in the trenches, two touches of the ball afforded his team leeway they never really looked likely to concede. The midfielder supplied a first-time, angled ball to Greg Kiltie, which proved sufficient to bamboozle the Thistle defence. Callum Booth duly pushed Kiltie over, the referee John Beaton deciding the offence occurred marginally inside the penalty area in awarding a spot-kick. Jamie Hamill watched a tame effort batted away by Scott Fox but had the presence of mind to slam home the rebound. If that offered advantage Kilmarnock, there were still glimpses of agitation in the ranks. Hamill and Josh Magennis had a furious row in the centre circle – the former irate at the latter for conceding a cheap free-kick – with Magennis appearing to motion his head towards the opening scorer. We may hear more about that, via the Scottish FA, before too long. Kilmarnock were soon united in further celebration. Eremenko was again the architect, with a corner perfectly planted on the head of Tope Obadeyi. The winger made no mistake from there. Craig Slater could and should have added a Kilmarnock third before the interval but instead slammed wide.

Just as before the break, Thistle huffed and puffed at the onset of the second half without properly testing Craig Samson in the Kilmarnock goal. The hosts were soon the victims of a sucker punch. Eremenko was fortunate, to say the least, to win a free-kick under a challenge from Christie Elliott just inside the touchline. Thistle’s justified complaints about that, however, are offset by their failure to adequately defend Eremenko’s subsequent cross. Obadeyi stole in at the back post to head beyond Fox. A match dominated by set plays was continued by Conrad Balatoni, the Thistle captain beating Samson from a Kallum Higginbotham corner. Locke glanced at his watch; with 23 minutes to play, Kilmarnock were not safe yet. Their recent inability to defend under pressure offered a hint of that. Instead, a rear-guard brilliantly marshalled by Mark Connolly held firm. There was also a fourth goal for the first time in this Kilmarnock season, Magennis scoring after being sent clean through on Fox. A wonderful save from the Thistle goalkeeper prevented another Magennis goal; by full-time, nobody in blue and white was overly worried about that.

OOPS, WRONG RECORD…

● Going for a share of the all-time club-record five consecutive top-flight home wins with a clean-sheet, Thistle backfire in that special way that only Thistle can. Instead, This result matches the club's all-time record home loss to Kilmarnock, and is our worst in 60 years: 07.11.1896 Kilmarnock [h] L2-5 (Scottish Qualifying Cup 4th Round); 03.03.1900 Kilmarnock [h] L1-4 (Western League - game 4); 26.01.1918 Kilmarnock [h] L0-3 (SFL - game 23); 16.04.1955 Kilmarnock [h] L0-3 (SFL Division A - game 30)

● Kilmarnock's run of seven straight competitive defeats, reportedly the worst in the Ayrshire club’s 146-year history, ends at Firhill.* Strangely, Kilmarnock join Celtic, Aberdeen and Dundee as the fourth team that Thistle have been unable to defeat this season.

● Tope Obadeyi registers as the leading marksman against the Jags this season, with 5 of his competitive goals denting our goals against column in the League. John Guidetti (3) is second on the list.

● Eight consecutive competitive penalty awards have now gone to the opposition. I'd be surprised if this was not a club-record.

● Thistle have conceded more penalties this season (9 in all competitions) than any other Premiership side, 2 more than Kilmarnock who are next on the list with 7.

● For the first time in his Thistle career, Kallum has provided assists in 3 consecutive matches. The scene is set for next weeks’ assists showdown finale at Fir Park… Steven (8) vs Kallum (7).

● Kallum, Thistle's chief-sinner in 2013-14, goes outright top of this season's bad-boy table with 9 yellows and 1 red.

● Stuart, with 40, hits the outright top of the appearances chart for the first time this season.

● 24-year-old Conrad Balatoni plays his last game for Thistle and marks the occasion by scoring his final goal for the club.

● Jack W. Hendry becomes the latest of 1800+ players to join the A to Z of those to have been included (metaphorically or otherwise) on a first-team team-sheet. A team of crack Thistle history sleuths have, thus far, been unable to trace a relationship with auld John Hendry from the 1880s, currently gracing the Stand Together flag in the Northy!

● Unusually for an outfield player, David Wilson [ii] will finish the season as the most unused sub, although his 90 minute bench-snooze routine, 26-times practiced this season, was disturbed yesterday.

● Thistle have not went backwards in the League table since November 2014, steadily rising from 9th to 8th. In runs which have included some degree of table climbing, yesterday set a new club-record for the top-flight, at 24 games in-a-row.

● At Firhill, 7 Thistle goals in-a-row have been scored at the City end. Only 1 of the last 15 (Stuart Bannigan's screamer against St Johnstone) has been scored at the Northy.

● A draw at Fir Park on the last day of the season will set a new club-record goal-difference in the top-flight. The current record of +3 was set in season 1978-79.

ongoing sequences:

● 10 competitive games since a home draw.

● 14 competitive games without defeat when scoring the opening goal.

● 24 games without going backwards in the table (where the streak contains at least some positive progress), 3rd Dec 2014 to date. (Longest run since the club-record: 29 games, 7th Oct 2000 to 4th Aug 2001.)

● 28 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.)

● 43 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.)

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