The Thistle Archive

Kris Doolan - making his 300th club appearance - twice had the ball in the net for Thistle, but both times the assistant referee's flag was raised. Kilmarnock striker Souleymane Coulibaly endured a frustrating day in front of goal with his best chance a header just wide of the post. Steven Smith forced a save from Tomas Cerny late on as Killie finished the stronger of the two. Partick Thistle will view this as two points dropped as they passed up the chance to record a third successive victory and ensure a top-six place going into the winter break. They were the better side for much of the game but failed to capitalise on the opportunities they created. Kilmarnock did pose a threat of their own at times, with Coulibaly as usual looking capable of causing danger inside opposition territory. Their winless run now extends to six matches but manager Lee Clark may consider a point away to an in-form opponent as a valuable one.

Doolan looked the home side's likeliest match-winner; linking well with Chris Erskine and Steven Lawless in particular. Indeed, the trio combined to put the ball in the net as early as the second minute, as Erskine's shot was pushed into Lawless's path and his square ball tapped in by Doolan, only for the celebrations to be curtailed by the assistant's flag. As impressive as Doolan's contribution was, it was ultimately as frustrating an afternoon for him as it was for Thistle on the whole. Kilmarnock goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald saved superbly to deny him the opening goal just before the break and another offside decision nullified a cute second-half finish.

Clark has chopped and changed his starting line-up, often because of injuries but also in an attempt to find a winning formula. He will hope the new year brings some better fortune on the injury front, particularly among his defenders, with Gary Dicker deployed as an emergency centre-back at Firhill, generally to good effect. Despite looking second best over the piece, Killie might well have emerged with all three points. Flo Bojaj scooped the ball over the bar from close range and Smith smashed in a shot from close range only for Cerny to push the ball to safety to ensure the spoils were shared.

Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald:

I think you're always disappointed not to win, especially at home. I thought we put a lot into the first half but we didn't really get going second half and Kilmarnock probably had two of the best chances. Kilmarnock came with a plan, they're coming off the back of a bad result and you could see that. They were defending for their lives and at one point we had a lot of pressure on them, we just couldn't work the ball into the net. I think Kris Doolan's first (disallowed goal) was off, the feedback on the second is that it was on line but some you get, some you don't.

Kilmarnock manager Lee Clark:

It was a very good, hard-fought point for us under the circumstances we have at the moment with injuries to key players, asking lads to play different positions to what they're used to. So for us to keep a clean sheet against a team in form and grow into the game and have our own chances, it's a good basis to start. We can now regroup, hopefully get most of the injured players back for the Hamilton cup tie and potentially have a few new players coming in too.

bbc.com

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