18th Feb 2017 Partick Thistle 2 Hamilton Academical 0 (SPFL Premiership - game 25)

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matches:2016-17: ← 36game 3738 →

39y, 7m, 5d	Alan Archibald	Martin Canning

Mustapha Dumbuya; Callum Booth
Sean Welsh; Niall Keown

Kris Doolan (1-0, 67 mins); Kris Doolan (2-0, 78 mins)
Chris Erskine (1-0, 67 mins); Callum Booth (2-0, 78 mins)
Steven Lawless		Michael Devlin; Craig Watson; Giannis Skondras

David Amoo (Kris Doolan, HT); Ade Azeez (Chris Erskine, 59 mins)		Daniel Redmond (Grant Gillespie, 65 mins); Eamonn Brophy (Blair Adams, 75 mins); Massimo Donati (Gramoz Kurtaj, 75 mins)

31y, 10m, 8d	Tomáš Černý	Gary Woods
29y, 6m, 11d	Mustapha Dumbuya	Giannis Skondras
25y, 8m, 19d	Callum Booth	Michael Devlin
21y, 4m, 6d	Liam Lindsay	Dougie Imrie
24y, 5m, 11d	Danny Devine	Daniel Redmond
29y, 11m, 22d	Abdul Osman	Rakish Bingham
26y, 1m, 11d	Adam Barton	Craig Watson
25y, 10m, 5d	David Amoo	Darian MacKinnon future Jag
23y, 1m, 10d	Ade Azeez	Eamonn Brophy
23y, 3m, 1d	Ryan Edwards	Massimo Donati
25y, 10m, 6d	Steven Lawless	Scott McMann

26y, 1m, 4d

26y, 6m, 9d	Mark Ridgers	Remi Matthews
30y, 2m, 7d	Kris Doolan	Dan Seaborne former Jag
30y, 0m, 10d	Chris Erskine	Grant Gillespie
21y, 10m, 13d	Niall Keown	Gramoz Kurtaj
19y, 11m, 10d	Kevin Nisbet	Ross Cunningham
18y, 3m, 29d	Andy McCarthy	Steven Boyd
		Blair Adams

notes

Thistle generally in playing order, opposition in squad number order.
Thistle filled only 6 of their 7 allocated bench slots.

TTA report

Cerny's save at his near post and Lindsay's poor miss from a rebounded Devine header were the only highlights of a dire first half. Subs Erskine and Doolan combined to relieve the gloom and introduce some creative play. Doolan's headers from crosses by Erskine and Booth (67 and 78) won the vital points.

Media report

John Barnes, 18-Feb-2017, bbc.com

Kris Doolan came off the bench to score twice as Partick Thistle beat struggling Hamilton Academical to move into the Premiership's top six. It was a first half to forget, with neither side managing a shot on target. As the game opened up after the break Doolan nodded the home side ahead from close range, shortly after Danny Devine had been denied with a similar chance. Then Doolan made it two with another header, this time getting to Callum Booth's cross. With Ross County losing at home to St Johnstone, the result moved Thistle into sixth place, five points clear of Accies in the relegation play-off spot.

With six of their seven previous meetings having ended all square, the opening exchanges indicated another tight affair in prospect. Neither side created a clear-cut chance during the first quarter of this fixture. Hamilton goalkeeper Gary Woods dealt with a cross from the right with a powerful punch clear, while Tomas Cerny at the other end only dirtied his gloves by fielding a headed pass-back from Devine. This was Cerny's 200th appearance in Scottish football and by coincidence it came in a fixture between the two teams with whom he acquired that total. Having never been on the losing side in fixtures between the two, he was keen to maintain that trend. However, his goal was threatened five minutes before the interval when Michael Devlin sent a glancing header wide of his right-hand post after connecting with a Danny Redmond corner kick from the right. They talk about "Firhill for thrills" but that phrase was furthest from the mind after the first half. While there was plenty of endeavour, there was no end product.

Early in the second half Eamonn Brophy got his head to a Redmond cross but it flew wide of the target. Brophy got closer with his next effort. This time he got beyond Liam Lindsay before firing in a low shot, but Cerny was alert to the danger and stretched well to turn the effort round the post. Thistle should have opened the scoring through Lindsay when he blasted over from four yards when Woods parried a Devine header into his path. Midway through the second half the home side made the breakthrough. Substitutes Chris Erskine and Doolan combined as the latter rose at the back post to head home the former's cross from the left. And Thistle doubled their lead when Booth's cross was perfect for Doolan to dispatch another header beyond the reach of Woods. Thistle have now gone 11 games unbeaten against Accies, and while Alan Archibald's men rise up to the top half of the table, the visitors are left in the thick of a relegation battle.

Reaction

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

It was a massive game and a massive three points. There wasn't a lot of good football on show, I think because of the size of the game and what was at stake. It is a boost (being in the top six). We don't harp on about it too much, I think the last time it lasted three days. I said to the lads we've nine huge games before the split, lets win the home ones and see where it takes us, we've done that today and hopefully we can build on it.

Hamilton Academical manager Martin Canning (speaking to the BBC):

We were probably the better team for parts of the first half. We forced Thistle into changing their shape. In the second half you can clear see we tired which was going to happen given how stretched the squad is. When you've got a squad our size and you've got seven or eight bodies out it's going to take its toll. It's still all to play for, it's still a tight league, but it's going to be a grind.

DOOLAN LEAPS INTO THE TOP 10

● Tomáš Černý has never been on the losing side in fixtures between the two; four unbeaten as an Academical and now five unbeaten as a Jag.

● The Top Cat has now registered a clean-sheet in 19 out of 49 competitive games, an excellent ratio of 38.78%. Of the 'keepers that have played 10 games or more, Tomáš Černý is currently second only to Jim Ferguson (23 in 51 games, 45.1%), who existed in our halcyon clean-sheet days of the 1910s.

● Doolan's goal in the 67th minute broke a horrible run of 472 minutes without a League goal for Thistle and prevented the category record of 5 League games without a goal being equalled.

● Doolan has netted 7 in his last 9 games against Accies, his club total now standing at 8 in total, a tally only bettered by his 9 against Queen of the South.

● With his brace, the number nine overtakes Sandy Hair, and now sits as Thistle's 5th highest scorer vs the Lanarkshire side.

● In competitive action, Kris is the first substitute to score twice in a match since Steven Craig did so on his debut, co-incidentally also against Hamilton, in a 4-0 Firhill League win back in September 2012.

● Now with 41 goals in the SPFL Premiership, Kris is third only to Leigh Griffiths (59) and Adam Rooney (54).

● With his second goal of the game, Kris moved on to 97 competitive goals for Partick Thistle, a tally which places him in the all-time Top 10 in that category.

● Thistle are now 11 competitive games without defeat versus Accies, a H2H record run which stretches from 1st November 2014 to date. Running concurrently with this is a run of 10 League games without defeat against them, a joint H2H record.

ongoing sequences:

● 32 consecutive competitive appearances for Ade Azeez, 15th July 2016 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Ryan Edwards - 39 games; 2nd Mar 2016 to 31st Dec 2016. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games; 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

● 56 away League games without a penalty award, 1st Mar 2014 to date. (Longest run since the club-record: 62 games; 1st Apr 1911 to 7th Nov 1914.)

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