2nd Mar 2016 St Johnstone 1 Partick Thistle 2 (SPFL Premiership - game 26)

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matches:2015-16: ← 32game 3334 →

	Tommy Wright	Alan Archibald	38y, 7m, 18d

		Liam Lindsay; David Amoo; Mathias Pogba; Sean Welsh
		Freddy Frans; Christie Elliott; Kris Doolan; Aidan Nesbitt

Chris Kane (2-1, 67 mins)		Callum Booth (1-0, 6 mins); Steven Lawless (2-0, 13 mins)
Darnell Fisher (2-1, 67 mins)		Stuart Bannigan (1-0, 6 mins); Stuart Bannigan (2-0, 13 mins)
Liam Craig		Sean Welsh

Graham Cummins (Chris Kane, HT); David Wotherspoon (Craig Thomson, 77 mins); Steven MacLean (John Sutton, 82 mins)		David Amoo (Christie Elliott, 66 mins); Mathias Pogba (Kris Doolan, 86 mins); Steven Lawless (Ryan Edwards, 90 mins)

	Alan Mannus	Tomáš Černý	30y, 10m, 21d
	future Jag Tam Scobbie	Gary Miller	28y, 10m, 16d
	future Jag Steven Anderson	Callum Booth	24y, 9m, 1d
	Murray Davidson	Dan Seaborne	28y, 11m, 26d
	Steven MacLean	Liam Lindsay	20y, 4m, 19d
	David Wotherspoon	Abdul Osman	29y, 0m, 4d
	Joe Shaughnessy	David Amoo	24y, 10m, 18d
	Danny Swanson	Stuart Bannigan	23y, 5m, 14d
	Graham Cummins	Mathias Pogba	25y, 6m, 12d
	Darnell Fisher	Sean Welsh	25y, 11m, 16d
	Liam Craig	Steven Lawless	24y, 10m, 19d

			26y, 1m, 23d

	Zander Clark	Ryan Scully	23y, 4m, 2d
	Simon Lappin	Kris Doolan	29y, 2m, 20d
	Michael Doyle	Antonio German	24y, 2m, 5d
	John Sutton	Christie Elliott	24y, 9m, 5d
	Chris Kane	Aidan Nesbitt	19y, 0m, 26d
	Craig Thomson	Ryan Edwards	22y, 3m, 14d
	Plamen Krachunov	Kevin Nisbet	18y, 11m, 23d

TTA report

Booth cut in for a 20-yarder (6) then Lawless (unplayable despite rough treatment) scored with a low grounder from 20 yards (13). Welsh's free-kick was tipped over. Saints were restricted to long range efforts then a speculative lob was turned in (67). Pogba and Welsh should have made it 3 or 4. Excellent win.

Media report

02-Mar-2016, ptfc.co.uk

Thistle travelled to Perth to take on St Johnstone looking to defeat the Saints for the third time the season. The sides had last met eight days ago at Firhill when goals from Kris Doolan and David Amoo sealed a 2-0 success at Firhill and the side were looking to gain another three valuable points. Manager Alan Archibald made four changes to the side which fell to defeat in Motherwell on Saturday. Injury denied him the continuity of the same defence with Frederic Frans being replaced by Liam Lindsay. David Amoo, having greatly impressed in his substitute appearances makes a start in place of Christie Elliott. Aidan Nesbitt dropped to the bench to give Sean Welsh another opportunity in midfield while Mathias Pogba, so effective against St Johnstone last Tuesday night leads the line ahead of Kris Doolan.

Thistle got off to a dream start when Callum Booth, fresh from his first Thistle strike on Saturday, bagged his second. Stuart Bannigan spread the ball wide to Booth on the corner of the box. After looking to have lost the opportunity to have a go, he cut the ball onto his right foot to send a curled effort across Mannus and into the corner of the net. Thistle were finding plenty of space in the St Johnstone half in the early stages and doubled their lead after only 13 minutes. Steven Lawless, who scored a screamer on his last visit to McDiarmid Park, found space on the edge of the box and he fired a low drive beyond the reach of Alan Mannus. Thistle were full of confidence and Welsh was next to have a go but his drive fired high over the cross bar. Steven Lawless looked unplayable in the first half and from one of his surging drives, he was fouled by Anderson on the edge of the box. Sean Welsh produced a terrific full length save from Alan Mannus who tipped it around the post for a corner. Thistle were dominating the early proceedings with Lawless forcing another excellent save from Mannus when the ball dropped to him on the edge of the penalty area. The only disappointment from the first half was that the side only had two goals to show for their effort.

St Johnstone made a half time substitution, introducing Kane in a bid to get back into the game and Thistle had to guard against the youngster. Thistle defended extremely well, restricting St Johnstone to long range efforts while also proving a threat on the break. Mathias Pogba worked a tireless shift up front as Thistle looked to get a third goal on the break. Sean Welsh glanced a header into the arms of Alan Mannus from a cross as Thistle looked to put the seal on the game, but St Johnstone were to bag the next goal. Darnell Fisher fired over a harmless looking cross for Chris Kane to bundle the ball home from close range and fire the home side lifeline. Saints took a lot of confidence from the goal and piled the pressure on Thistle for the equalising goal. Swanson and Wotherspoon fired off target from distance before Thistle were gradually able to take the sting out of the ascendancy. Thistle were still dangerous on the break and could have added a third goal through Welsh. Stuart Bannigan picked up the ball just inside the Thistle half and, spurred on by the driving run of Welsh, played the ball right into the path of the midfielder who fired straight at Alan Mannus. Pogba’s last impact on the pitch was to clear a dangerous St Johnstone free kick as all Thistle bodies defended deep to keep the lead for the Jags. He was replaced by Kris Doolan with five minutes to go, with the substitute almost having another immediate impact. He burst through the defence to face Alan Mannus once more. He fired a right footed effort towards goal which spun off the goalkeeper before a recovering defender hooked the ball off the line. Steven Lawless had a tremendous game, getting hacked down consistently by St Johnstone bodies before having to come off with just a couple of minutes of the ninety to go. With five minutes of injury time to navigate Thistle had to defend well and kept the ball deep in the St Johnstone half at times to see out the challenge. Craig Thomson blew the full time whistle to signal a fourth successive victory against St Johnstone, a first for the club, that saw the club climb to 7th in the Ladbrokes Premiership table.

HISTORIC WIN IN PERTH

● Callum Booth becomes the first Thistle full-back in over 50 years (and the first-ever 'modern' full-back) to score in two consecutive top-flight games. This 2-in-a-row grabs him an unlikely share of the category record jointly held by: Bill Gray (Apr 1908); Stewart Calderwood (Dec 1936) and Joe Hogan (Nov-Dec 1962).

● Thistle retire with a 2 goal half-time lead for only the second time in competitive action this season; both times achieved at McDiarmid Park.

● With 3 in 5 days, Stuart Bannigan opens up a gap of 3 at the top of this season's competitive assists table; Stuart Bannigan's 7 now plays Stevie's 4.

● Stevie scores against Saintees for the second time this season putting him in line for a potential Hogan, split permitting.

● Beating St Johnstone twice in nine days in the top-flight stands as Thistle's second quickest double ever recorded in that category. The top-flight record remains with our East Stirlingshire eight-day double, registered over 2 consecutive Saturdays March/April 1933. Our competitive-games club-record remains with Clyde, who were beaten twice in three days in February 1983 (League and Cup).

● Thistle win a fourth consecutive competitive game versus St Johnstone, the H2H record.

● In competitive action, Thistle are on a run of 4 consecutive non-Saturday victories; 5 non-Saturday games without defeat. The last side to defeat Thistle outwith a Saturday were Falkirk, away back in August.

● Archie's Jags are currently sitting on 1.3076 ppg for the League season which, when you apply 3 points per win to all eras, is on-target for a post-reconstruction best for the top-flight, AHEAD of Bertie's Jags. 50 pts is the required target to achieve this.

ongoing sequences:

● 26 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.)

● 39 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.)

● 66 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.)

● 84 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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