The Thistle Archive

Thistle hosted Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Firhill looking to build on the point won a fortnight ago at Dens Park. Thistle have enjoyed a good record against the highland outfit since winning promotion to the Premiership in 2013 and Alan Archibald was keen for the good streak against them to continue. The manager made two changes to the side which had earned the point at Dens with Ryan Scully returning to the goalkeeping position having served his one match ban. Missing out due to a ban was Stuart Bannigan and his place in the midfield went to Gary Fraser. Thistle started sluggishly, with Inverness keen to test Ryan Scully early on firing in shots from distance in the opening stages of the game. It took only six minutes for the away side to take the lead when some confident passing from the team resulted in Storey being played through by Williams, sending a low drive past Scully to the corner of the net. Thistle were in danger of losing any sense of control in the game as Inverness pressed hard, but Doolan was working hard to try and gain some territory in the Inverness half, winning a free kick 30 yards from goal, after showing a great first touch. From the freekick, Fraser floated the ball to the back post, with Seaborne able to knock it back into the box, but Inverness were able to clear easily. Callum Booth was marauding down the left hand touchline and showed excellent pace to get clear of Horney, before lifting a cross which Doolan saw his downward header tipped over the bar by Fon Williams. From the resulting corner, Doolan had a shot on the turn which went agonisingly wide of the post as Thistle cranked up the pressure on the away side. Lawless was next to try his luck, after a mazy run allowed him space on the edge of the box to fire a fizzing drive just wide of the post. Thistle were having the better of the game, but Inverness were proving to be a threat on the break with Williams getting on the end of a Polworth cross but unable to find the back of the net with Scully beaten. Just before half time, Thistle were level and it was that man Doolan who notched the equaliser, after a first half where he had a personal dual with Fon Williams. Having been blocked from close range previously, Doolan manufactured himself some space inside the box, before finishing a low left footed drive into the far post. Thistle came out strongly at the start of the second half buoyed by the equalising goal and Fraser did well to burst into the box to meet a Dumbuya cross, but his header was straight at the goalkeeper. The pace of David Amoo was causing Inverness all sorts of problems and he shot wide having been played clean through inside the penalty area. Scully had to be alert to beat Williams to a through ball but had little to do in the second half as Thistle continued to press forward in search of a winner. Steven Lawless was denied by a good save from Fon Williams, with Muirhead unable to bundle home the rebound, while Gary Fraser tried a couple of optimistic long range efforts which floated past the post. Booth and Pogba both had efforts blocked by defenders before Thistle grabbed a last gasp winner. Dumbuya and Stevenson combined after a throw in and, with no options for delivering a cross seemingly obvious, he swung a left foot to send it into the box. Mathias Pogba made a movement towards the ball, but it bounced away from the striker and into the back of the net. With three minutes of additional time to navigate, there was still an air of nerviness around Firhill but the home fans inside the ground were soon celebrating three points, which, combined with other results, saw Thistle climb a place to 10th in the Ladbrokes Premiership table.

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9 GOALS, 9 PLAYERS RECORD EQUALLED

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