1st Feb 2017 Partick Thistle 0 St Johnstone 1 (SPFL Premiership - game 23)

matches:2016-17: ← 33game 3435 →

39y, 6m, 19d	Alan Archibald	Tommy Wright

Kris Doolan
Ade Azeez

		Steven MacLean (0-1, 40 mins)
		none (0-1, 40 mins)
Ryan Edwards		Daniel Swanson; Steven Anderson; Graham Cummins; Liam Craig
Christie Elliott (@ 0-1, 90+2 mins)
Chris Erskine (Ade Azeez, 57 mins); Sean Welsh (Abdul Osman, 63 mins); Kris Doolan (David Amoo, 73 mins)		Daniel Swanson (David Wotherspoon, 71 mins)

31y, 9m, 22d	Tomáš Černý	Alexander Clark
25y, 8m, 6d	Christie Elliott	Steven Anderson future Jag
25y, 8m, 2d	Callum Booth	Chris Millar
21y, 3m, 20d	Liam Lindsay	Murray Davidson
21y, 9m, 27d	Niall Keown	Steven MacLean
26y, 0m, 25d	Adam Barton	Daniel Swanson
25y, 9m, 20d	Steven Lawless	Joe Shaughnessy
23y, 2m, 15d	Ryan Edwards	Richard Foster future Jag
30y, 1m, 21d	Kris Doolan	Brian Easton
29y, 11m, 24d	Chris Erskine	Liam Craig
26y, 10m, 17d	Sean Welsh	Graham Cummins

26y, 2m, 20d

26y, 5m, 23d	Mark Ridgers	Alan Mannus
29y, 5m, 25d	Mustapha Dumbuya	Tam Scobbie future Jag
29y, 11m, 5d	Abdul Osman	Blair Alston future Jag
25y, 9m, 19d	David Amoo	David Wotherspoon
24y, 4m, 25d	Danny Devine	Paul Paton former Jag
23y, 0m, 24d	Ade Azeez	Keith Watson
19y, 10m, 24d	Kevin Nisbet	George Hunter

notes

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

TTA report

Woeful finishing and a measure of bad luck cost Thistle dear then a poor back header by Booth set up the close-in winner (39), St Johnstone's only attempt on target in 90 mins. Time wasting reached new heights after half-time and Elliott was sent off (92) understandably frustrated. Too many players below par.

Media report

John Barnes, 01-Feb-2017, bbc.com

St Johnstone maintained pressure on fourth-placed Hearts in the Scottish Premiership with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Partick Thistle. Steven MacLean hammered in the only goal after 40 minutes when he exploited a weak Callum Booth headed passback. The goal came against the run of the play, though, after Ryan Edwards and Niall Keown passed up chances. In a tight second half, Ade Azeez had a header saved before Christie Elliott was dismissed in stoppage time.

Thistle dominated the first half, with some eye-catching football producing decent chances. Edwards blasted over from 20 yards before Steven Lawless had a left-foot effort from a similar distance which flew wide. As the Jags continued to press, two top-class saves from Zander Clark kept them out. The first came after good build-up play saw Lawless fire a left-foot effort goal-bound which the Saints keeper stretched to his left to parry. Although the ball looped towards Edwards, the Thistle midfielder could only hit the side netting with his diving header. Clark went one better with his next stop as he denied Keown his first Thistle goal. The on-loan defender, up for a corner, blasted a right-foot volley from eight yards which Clark superbly touched away. Clark's heroics were rewarded when MacLean put the visitors ahead five minutes before the interval, after a mistake at the heart of the Thistle defence. Callum Booth looked to head a high ball back to goalkeeper Tomas Cerny, but failed to spot MacLean standing on the six-yard line and the Saints striker swivelled to volley into the corner of the net. Either side of half time the Saints keeper again proved his worth with two fine saves from Doolan to deny the home side an equaliser.

Having won on their previous visit to Firhill, Steven Anderson and his fellow defenders looked determined to ensure they were leaving with the three points again - no matter what Thistle threw at them. Saints were quick to counter attack and substitute David Wotherspoon should have done better than send a curling left foot effort over the bar after Murray Davidson had sent him clear on a run from his own half. Thistle had Elliot red carded in the final minute as he lashed out at Graham Cummins at the corner flag as he tried to run down time. Cummins was booked for his part. The hosts' five-game unbeaten run came to an end as St Johnstone consolidated their position in fifth place, level on points with Hearts.

Reaction

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

The result's disappointing. The performance first half was very good, we created a number of chances and worked the goalkeeper. But we switched off, made a horrible mistake for the goal and couldn't get back in. I'm disappointed we didn't really get a reaction in the second half. It's definitely a chance missed. We've got to score when we're on top of games, and take our chances. We made a number of chances tonight and didn't take them. It's been our Achilles heel all season, individuallyand collectively we've missed chances when we're on top of games and it's come back to bite us tonight.

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright (speaking to the BBC):

It's great for our players to be competing again this season at the right end of the table. I think everybody waits for the St Johnstone bubble to burst, but we just keep plodding away, picking up results people don't expect, proving people wrong. The spirit's unbelievable, the dressing room's buzzing tonight, and we keep on the coattails of Hearts. But it opens up a 10 or 11-point gap off the ones that were close to us.

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