31st Dec 2016 Partick Thistle 0 Kilmarnock 0 (SPFL Premiership - game 21)

matches:2016-17: ← 29game 3031 →

39y, 5m, 18d	Alan Archibald	Lee Clark

Steven Lawless
Liam Lindsay



Callum Booth		Charlee Adams

Steven Lawless (David Amoo, 67 mins); Ryan Edwards (Ade Azeez, 76 mins); Chris Erskine (Declan McDaid, 86 mins)		Dean Hawkshaw (Adam Frizzell, 52 mins); Nathan Tyson (Jordan Jones, 66 mins)

31y, 8m, 21d	Tomáš Černý	Jamie MacDonald
25y, 7m, 5d	Christie Elliott	Steven Smith
25y, 7m, 1d	Callum Booth	Gary Dicker
24y, 3m, 24d	Danny Devine	Nathan Tyson
25y, 11m, 24d	Adam Barton	Charlee Adams
29y, 10m, 4d	Abdul Osman	Souleymane Coulibaly future Jag
25y, 8m, 19d	Steven Lawless	Florent Bojaj
23y, 1m, 14d	Ryan Edwards	Greg Taylor
30y, 0m, 20d	Kris Doolan	Luke Hendrie
29y, 10m, 23d	Chris Erskine	Dean Hawkshaw
26y, 9m, 16d	Sean Welsh	Iain Wilson

27y, 1m, 23d

35y, 9m, 14d	Thorsten Stuckmann	Devlin Mackay
25y, 8m, 18d	David Amoo	William Boyle
22y, 11m, 23d	Ade Azeez	Kris Boyd
22y, 3m, 25d	David Wilson [ii]	Jordan Jones
21y, 1m, 9d	Declan McDaid	Adam Frizzell
23y, 8m, 8d	Ziggy Gordon	Scott McLean
18y, 2m, 11d	Andy McCarthy	Innes Cameron

notes

Thistle generally in playing order, opposition in squad number order.

TTA report

2 Doolan “goals“ disallowed for off-side were as near as Thistle got. Good leading up work didn't test the keeper often enough. Kilmarnock had the best of the chances after half-time as Thistle tired. A tough run of fixtures seemed to take its toll and it was a day when very little went right for the creative players.

Media report

Alasdair Lamont, 31-Dec-2016, bbc.com

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.

Reaction

Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald (speaking to the BBC):

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 (speaking to the BBC):

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.

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