9th Aug 2015 Partick Thistle 0 Celtic 2 (SPFL Premiership - game 2)

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matches:2015-16: ← 05game 0607 →

38y, 0m, 27d	Alan Archibald	Ronny Deila

Jack W. Hendry; David Wilson [ii]; Steven Lawless
Freddy Frans; David Amoo; Kris Doolan

		Tom Rogic (0-1, 28 mins), Kris Commons (0-2, 63 mins)
		Leigh Griffiths (0-1, 28 mins), Nir Bitton (0-2, 63 mins)
Abdul Osman; Gary Miller

Steven Lawless (Mathias Pogba, 50 mins); Ryan Stevenson (David Amoo, 66 mins); Sean Welsh (Gary Fraser, 75 mins)		Stuart Armstrong (Callum McGregor, 20 mins); Nir Bitton (Gary Mackay-Steven, 64 mins); Kris Commons (Liam Henderson, 87 mins)

30y, 3m, 30d	Tomáš Černý	Craig Gordon
28y, 3m, 25d	Gary Miller	Emilio Izaguirre
24y, 2m, 10d	Callum Booth	Virgil van Dijk
19y, 9m, 28d	Liam Lindsay	Nir Bitton
20y, 3m, 2d	Jack W. Hendry	Leigh Griffiths
28y, 5m, 13d	Abdul Osman	Stuart Armstrong
20y, 11m, 3d	David Wilson [ii]	Kris Commons
22y, 10m, 23d	Stuart Bannigan	Tom Rogic
30y, 11m, 16d	Ryan Stevenson	Dedryck Boyata
25y, 4m, 25d	Sean Welsh	Mikael Lustig
24y, 3m, 28d	Steven Lawless	Stefan Johansen

25y, 0m, 28d

22y, 9m, 11d	Ryan Scully	Logan Bailly
28y, 5m, 4d	Dan Seaborne	Efe Ambrose
24y, 3m, 27d	David Amoo	Stefan Šćepović
28y, 7m, 29d	Kris Doolan	Gary Mackay-Steven
19y, 8m, 18d	Declan McDaid	Saidy Janko
21y, 1m, 7d	Gary Fraser	Callum McGregor
24y, 11m, 21d	Mathias Pogba	Liam Henderson

TTA report

Celtic hit the post from distance before a flicked shot from 12 yards put them ahead (28). Thistle had a pen claim turned down before half-time. A long ball caught the defence out (63). Pogba's shot (87) was the 1st (only) shot on target. Embarrassingly one-sided at times as Celtic dominated possession and never hit top gear.

Media report

09-Aug-2015, ptfc.co.uk

Thistle played their first home fixture of the 2015/16 Ladbrokes Premiership season on Sunday lunchtime as the BT Sport cameras came to Firhill. Alan Archibald made three changes to the side which came away from Hamilton with a valuable point the week before. Frederic Frans missed out as a consequence of his suspension incurred during the game and he was replaced by Jack W. Hendry, the young defender who impressed with his substitute appearance. David Wilson and Steven Lawless also came into the side which saw Kris Doolan and David Amoo drop to the bench.

Thistle have conceded early goals to Celtic in each of the last two meetings at Firhill and our Glasgow rivals were keen to grab another quick goal to show their dominance. Izaguirre fired over a cross from the left which Griffiths fired high over the bar. Thistle found themselves temporarily down to ten men as Stevenson needed treatment for a head knock, with Commons close to taking advantage with a low shot from the edge of the penalty area. Celtic continued their dominance in the opening 30 minutes of the game with van Dijk smacking a fierce shot off the post from 35 yards with Cerny appearing beaten. When the opening goal did arrive there was a feeling of inevitability about it, but Celtic did enjoy a stroke of fortune with it as well. Gary Miller’s clearance was blocked by MacGregor, an early substitute for Armstrong, and the ball fell kindly for the young midfielder to advance to the edge of the box firing over a cross. Griffiths took a touch to control allowing Rogic to flick the ball into the corner of the net with the heel of his foot. Thistle came back into the game and on the stroke of half time had loud shouts for a penalty. Wilson got on the end of a Miller cross and flicked it back towards the box striking the arm of Lustig. The referee appeared unmoved, and with Thistle having been on the end of similar penalty decisions last season, it will add to Alan Archibald’s frustration with refereeing consistency.

Thistle made a bright start to the second half with Lawless close to getting onto the end of Wilson’s through ball before Thistle fans got their first glimpse of new signing Mathias Pogba who looked lively and made himself a physical presence in the final third of the pitch. Celtic grabbed a decisive second goal shortly after the hour mark, when Callum Booth failed to deal with a routine long ball and Commons chipped the ball over Cerny into the unguarded net. The pace of the game calmed for a while after the killer second goal although David Amoo did his best to liven proceedings with a cross to Pogba being unlucky to go marginally wide of goal. Thistle were unable to get a goal back and fell to a defeat where the gulf in class between the sides was evident. Thistle will look to put it behind them and focus on the long trip to Inverness on Wednesday night.

WOT, NO PEN?

● Dan is listed as a benchman for the first time in his Thistle career.

● 24-year-old Mathias Pogba makes his Thistle debut.

● Mathias Pogba becomes the first Guinean to play for Thistle.

● Guinea becomes the 38th country/territory to birth a Jag.

● Thistle lose their first competitive home game of a season for the first time in the 21st century, ending a 15 game unbeaten run. Alloa Athletic, back in July 1999, were the last team to do such a thing, when they registered a 2-0 League Cup victory at Firhill.

● Thistle have went 5 competitive games without a goal against Celtic; such a streak was last exceeded with an 8 game run against St Johnstone, 1994 to 1999, which itself was matching the all-time record of 8 games, set vs. Rangers (1872) from 1923 to 1925.

● The all-time club record for consecutive losses to the same team in the League is once again reset, now standing at 17 vs. Celtic.

● Thistle go backwards in the Scottish League for the first time since December 2014, setting the second longest positive run in the club's history.

● Referee John Beaton registers the first 100% points total against Thistle this season. Amazingly, Celtic fail to pick up a single yellow card against Thistle for the FIFTH CONSECUTIVE MATCH. I've never seen a streak like it.

● Partick Thistle have now played 39 competitive games without a penalty award. The average Scottish Premiership side was awarded 1 penalty every 9 games last season.

ongoing sequences:

● 7 competitive games since a goal in the away strip, 30th Aug 2014 to date.

● 11 competitive games since a home draw, 21st Jan 2015 to date.

● 14 competitive games since defeat when scoring the opening goal.

● 16 competitive games since a win in the away strip, 29th Dec 2012 to date.

● 20 consecutive competitive appearances for Stuart Bannigan, 24th Jan 2015 to date. (Longest run since: Stephen O'Donnell - 29 games; 8th Nov 2014 to 23rd May 2015. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games; 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

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