15th Aug 2015 Partick Thistle 2 Kilmarnock 2 (SPFL Premiership - game 4)

matches:2015-16: ← 07game 0809 →

38y, 1m, 2d	Alan Archibald	Gary Locke

Kris Doolan; Ryan Stevenson
Abdul Osman; Mathias Pogba

Kris Doolan (1-0, 8 mins); Kris Doolan (2-1, 78 mins)		Rory McKenzie (1-1, 38 mins); Kris Boyd (2-2, 85 mins)
Sean Welsh (1-0, 8 mins); Gary Fraser (2-1, 78 mins)		Kallum Higginbotham (1-1, 38 mins); Kallum Higginbotham (2-2, 85 mins)
Stuart Bannigan		Kallum Higginbotham; Darryl Westlake; Mark Connolly
Liam Lindsay (@ 1-1, 65 mins)
Steven Lawless (Gary Fraser, 53 mins); Ryan Stevenson (Dan Seaborne, 66 mins)		Greg Kiltie (Kris Boyd, 69 mins); Jamie Hamill (Aaron Splaine, 80 mins)

30y, 4m, 5d	Tomáš Černý	Jamie MacDonald
28y, 4m, 0d	Gary Miller	Steven Smith
24y, 2m, 16d	Callum Booth	Mark Connolly
19y, 10m, 3d	Liam Lindsay	Jamie Hamill
26y, 7m, 12d	Freddy Frans	Rory McKenzie
25y, 5m, 0d	Sean Welsh	Kallum Higginbotham former Jag
24y, 4m, 2d	David Amoo	Darryl Westlake
22y, 10m, 29d	Stuart Bannigan	Mark O'Hara
28y, 8m, 4d	Kris Doolan	Lee Ashcroft future Jag
30y, 11m, 22d	Ryan Stevenson	Greg Kiltie
24y, 4m, 3d	Steven Lawless	Josh Magennis

25y, 11m, 30d

22y, 9m, 17d	Ryan Scully	Oliver Davies
28y, 5m, 10d	Dan Seaborne	Ross Barbour
20y, 11m, 9d	David Wilson [ii]	Stuart Findlay
20y, 3m, 8d	Jack W. Hendry	Kris Boyd
19y, 8m, 24d	Declan McDaid	Lee McCulloch
19y, 5m, 6d	Jordan Leyden	Aaron Splaine
21y, 1m, 13d	Gary Fraser	Scott McLean

TTA report

Doolan scored with a fine individual effort (8) and hit the post soon after as Thistle dominated but a quickly taken free-kick led to a leveller (38). Lindsay saw red (last man foul, 65). Fraser hit the bar then Doolan scored (78) but a header (85) made it 2-2. Killie were lucky they weren't killed off in the first half.

Media report

15-Aug-2015, ptfc.co.uk

Thistle returned to Firhill for the fourth game of the Ladbroke Premiership season with Jags fans still waiting for the team to score the first goal of the campaign. Manager Alan Archibald was hopeful that his creative forward players would be able to find a bit of form and claim the first three points of the young season. He was enforced into two changes as injury denied him the services of Mathias Pogba, who left the Inverness game in its infancy, while Abdul Osman wasn’t able to shake off a knock picked up in the later stages of the contest. Kris Doolan came into the starting line up, while Ryan Stevenson lined up in his usual number 10 role.

Thistle showed urgency right from the very start of the game and set about trying to break the deadlock early on. Frans was first to threaten with a flick from a free kick but it wasn’t long before Thistle opened the scoring. High pressing from Thistle saw Doolan beat Ashcroft to a loose ball. A nimble touch took him past Connolly before he fired past MacDonald to open the scoring. Thistle continued to have the better of the game with Doolan once again in the thick of the action. Stevenson flighted in a free kick which dropped to Welsh. His shot was blocked by Hamill before falling to Doolan who curls a shot off the post. Steven Lawless was the next to try his luck, curling a shot inches wide of MacDonald’s goal. Thistle’s dominance continued but despite the best efforts of the forward players, a second goal could not be found and they were made to pay for it on 37 minutes. Magennis had come close with a previous effort from inside the box, forcing Cerny to make a tremendous stop. He was fouled by Lindsay on the half way line, and with the Thistle players waiting for a yellow card for the defender, the free kick was taken quickly finding MacKenzie in acres of space before slotting past the helpless Cerny. Thistle were fortunate not to go in behind as Magennis got clear of Lindsay and forced a good stop by the goalkeeper.

Kilmarnock started the second half stronger and Higginbotham was unlucky to see a shot go just wide of target after Cerny had blocked a Magennis drive. The game swung in favour of Kilmarnock when Liam Lindsay earned a red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity. He stood on the ball, allowing Mark O’Hara to drive ahead of him resulting in the defender pulling him down 25 yards from goal. Higginbotham’s resulting free kick was fired straight at Tomas Cerny. With a mans advantage the majority of the 3,600 crowd thought Kilmarnock might go on to seize the initative but it was Thistle who had the better of the chances. Fraser got on the end of a cross ball, turning in the box before smashing the bar with his shot. Miller was continuing to provide a valuable outlet on the right hand side and fired over a free kick which went out for a corner kick. From the resulting corner, the ball was worked back to Gary Fraser, his cross found Doolan onside at the back post. A composed touch from the striker was followed by a thunderous shot and Doolan had netted goal number 77 of his Thistle career. It was a lead Thistle could only hang onto for seven minutes. A corner was cleared back in the direction of Higginbotham who swung over an excellent cross for Boyd to header at the back post and bring Kilmarnock back on level terms. Thistle had one last chance to retake the lead as Seaborne got his head to a corner but MacDonald was more than equal to the effort and Thistle had to share a point with Kilmarnock, in a match that they dominated for the first 35 minutes.

AND HE'S OFF!

● Kris scores for Thistle for the eighth season in a row. He's the first player to do that since Kenny Watson in 1987-88.

● Since his debut in January 2009, Kris has scored once every 186 minutes in competitive action. Willie Sharp, Thistle's all-time highest goalscorer, only netted once every 225 minutes.

● Now on 77 competitive goals, Kris shoots into the all-time Top 20 goalscorers chart, now sitting at 18th. 6 more and he'll join Dougie Somner, the greatest Thistle striker of the last half-century.

● Sadly, a red-card will bring to a halt Liam's personal best run of 4 consecutive first-team appearances.

● Alan Muir flashes red to Thistle for the second game in a row, having dismissed Kallum Higginbotham at Victoria Park in March.

● Thistle, who only "won" a measly 5 out of 38 games in terms of refereeing decisions last season, have started off 2015-16 in the same fashion, with no "wins" in 4.

● Thistle have now only won once in the last 14 competitive meetings with Killie.

● This was Thistle's first competitive home draw since a 2-2 with Dundee United, 7½ months ago.

ongoing sequences:

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

● 7 competitive games without a win, 9th May 2015 to date. (Longest run since: 10 games, 27th Oct 2013 to 1st Jan 2014. Club-record: 26 games, 28th Nov 1908 to 28th Aug 1909.)

● 7 League games without a win; 9th May 2015 to date. (Longest run since: 9 games; 27th Oct 2013 to 1st Jan 2014. Club-record: 26 games; 28th Nov 1908 to 2nd Oct 1909.)

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

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

● 22 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.)

● 41 competitive games since a penalty award, 19th Sep 2014 to date.

● 59 competitive games since a goal from a penalty, 22nd Feb 2014 to date.

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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