2nd Feb 2016 Partick Thistle 1 Motherwell 0 (SPFL Premiership - game 23)

matches:2015-16: ← 28game 2930 →

38y, 6m, 20d	Alan Archibald	Mark McGhee

Gary Miller; Christie Elliott
Mustapha Dumbuya; David Amoo

Steven Lawless (1-0, 90 mins)
none (1-0, 90 mins)
Gary Miller; Dan Seaborne; Stuart Bannigan; Abdul Osman		Stephen Pearson

Sean Welsh (Mathias Pogba, 65 mins); Christie Elliott (David Amoo, 72 mins); Kris Doolan (Gary Fraser, 89 mins)		Ben Hall (Kieran Kennedy, 62 mins); Louis Moult (Morgaro Gomis, 62 mins); Chris Cadden (Lionel Ainsworth, 86 mins)

30y, 9m, 23d	Tomáš Černý	Connor Ripley
28y, 9m, 18d	Gary Miller	Josh Law
24y, 8m, 3d	Callum Booth	Stephen McManus
28y, 10m, 28d	Dan Seaborne	Keith Lasley
27y, 0m, 30d	Freddy Frans	Steven Hammell
28y, 11m, 6d	Abdul Osman	Ben Hall future Jag
24y, 8m, 7d	Christie Elliott	Marvin Johnson
23y, 4m, 16d	Stuart Bannigan	Scott McDonald future Jag
29y, 1m, 22d	Kris Doolan	Louis Moult
25y, 10m, 18d	Sean Welsh	Chris Cadden
24y, 9m, 21d	Steven Lawless	Stephen Pearson

27y, 0m, 4d

23y, 3m, 4d	Ryan Scully	Craig Samson
24y, 9m, 20d	David Amoo	Dom Thomas
21y, 4m, 27d	David Wilson [ii]	Wes Fletcher
22y, 2m, 16d	Ryan Edwards	Lionel Ainsworth
21y, 7m, 0d	Gary Fraser	Morgaro Gomis
18y, 10m, 25d	Kevin Nisbet	Kieran Kennedy
25y, 5m, 14d	Mathias Pogba	Joe Chalmers

notes

Rescheduled from the postponed fixture of 5th December 2015. Art giveaway # 3: 2,000 yellow cards, designed by Leicester-born, Berlin-based artist Jonathan Monk.

TTA report

10th v 9th. 5 first-half bookings by an over-zealous/over-lenient ref made for a scrappy game. Neither team was able keep possession for very long. Neither keeper had much to do. 0-0 looked likely until Lawless' deflected shot from 18 yards (90) won the points then Fraser cleared off the line (94) following a corner.

Media report

02-Feb-2016, ptfc.co.uk

Thistle hosted Motherwell at Firhill still seeking their first league victory of 2016. Thistle had been inactive for 10 days following the goal-less draw in Inverness due to the postponement of the weekend’s fixture with Dundee United. Motherwell came into the fixture without a league win in 4 games and on the back of a 2-2 draw with Dundee. Manager Alan Archibald made two changes to the side which played a drab 0-0 with Inverness. Mustapha Dumbuya missed out through injury allowing Gary Miller to return to the team, while Christie Elliott earned a start ahead of David Amoo. There was no place on the bench for deadline transfer duo Antonio German and Aidan Nesbitt, but there were welcome returns for Ryan Edwards, Gary Fraser and Mathias Pogba.

On a heavily sanded pitch, which survived a thorough pitch inspection just after 5pm, both sides made bright starts. Marvin Johnson was the first to trek through the Jackie Husband desert, jinking past a couple of challenges before finding his cross well cleared by Seaborne. Steven Lawless looked in the mood right from the off and had a couple of early efforts flash past the post of Connor Ripley. Seaborne was next to test the on-loan Motherwell goalkeeper with a header that Ripley needed two attempts to gather. After a positive opening, the game descended into a hard fought midfield battle with Thistle having Miller, Seaborne and Bannigan going into referee Barry Cook’s notebook for fouls. Thistle gradually grew into the game as a more attacking force, with Miller having a left footed effort from the edge of the box. Marvin Johnson created space in the penalty area, tumbling under minimal contact from Sean Welsh. The referee waved away his claims and played advantage as Thistle sought to break away. With the halftime whistle approaching, Steven Lawless jinked away from two Motherwell defenders before slicing a shot wildly off target to ensure the first half ended goalless.

Thistle started the second half sluggishly with Motherwell forcing themselves on the front foot. Pearson fired over the bar with just a few minutes gone, before Johnson almost scampered through after Seaborne left a through ball, the offside flag denying the Motherwell winger. Thistle introduced Mathias Pogba with a third of the game to go and he proved to be a real handful for the Motherwell defenders during his time on the park. He reached Miller’s deep cross with 15 minutes to go, but his header could only just clear Ripley’s bar. Pogba was doing well to flick the ball on, and hold it deep in the Motherwell half as Thistle pushed forward looking to grab the winner. Miller was next to have a sight of goal, but his long range shot went well wide of goal. In a game of few chances, Booth almost found a way past Ripley before Ainsworth thumped a freekick of a strong Thistle wall before Thistle grabbed the game’s only goal. Motherwell partially headed the ball away, under pressure from Amoo, but the ball fell gently for Lawless who rifled the ball beyond the helpless Ripley with the aid of a small deflection from a Motherwell defender. There was still drama to come as Motherwell tried to snatch a last gasp equaliser. A corner was flicked on at the near post and only an excellent goal-line header from Gary Fraser prevented the ball from crossing the line. Thistle navigated almost four minutes of injury time before being able to celebrate another three points which saw the side rise to 8th in the Ladbrokes Premiership table.

TOMÁŠ ON COURSE FOR RECORD

● Both sides lined up in their change strips; the last such occurrence in a Thistle game was in September 2013, a League Cup tie at Tannadice.

● Stuart Bannigan picks up his 10th Yellow Card of this season's League campaign. In terms of the League, this (already!) matches the highest known player total for as far as my complete records can go; back to 1997-98.

● Steven Lawless registers his 25th competition goal as a Jag and joins the illustrious company of Paul Cairney, Bobby Houston, Ian McDonald and Joe Hogan. Well done Stevie!

● Thistle register their second last-minute winner of the season, following Ryan Stevenson's effort vs Inverness back in November. You need to rewind back to Oct/Nov 1976 to find the last time there was such a double occurrence when Brian Whittaker (2-1, 89 mins) scunnered Rangers and John Hansen (2-1, 89 mins) broke Hearts, both at Firhill. (We'll allow them their 89th minute winners as the benefit of the doubt, eh?)

● 2,487 is Thistle's lowest home League crowd since 2,138 witnessed Kris Doolan's 4-goal Wednesday-night haul versus Hamilton back in January 2015.

● Tomáš Černý, now with 8, is on course for 13 clean-sheets in the League, which would give him the joint-second-best top-flight return of all-time for any Thistle goalie.

ongoing sequences:

● 8 competitive games without a half-time lead, 12th Dec 2015 to date. (Longest run since: 19 games; 7th Mar 2015 to 26th Sep 2015.)

● 24 competitive games without defeat when scoring the opening goal, 23rd Sep 2014 to date. (Longest run since: 26 games; 29th Sep 2001 to 7th Dec 2002.)

● 35 consecutive competitive appearances for Callum Booth, 14th Mar 2015 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Aaron Taylor-Sinclair - 55 games; 27th Oct 2012 to 18th Jan 2014. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games; 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

● 62 competitive games without a penalty award, 19th Sep 2014 to date. (Longest run since the club-record: 106 games; 10th Oct 1891 to 14th Dec 1895.)

● 80 competitive games without a goal from a penalty, 22nd Feb 2014 to date. (Longest run since the club-record: 114 games; 8th Aug 1891 to 14th Dec 1895.)

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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