1st Apr 2017 Partick Thistle 2 Ross County 1 (SPFL Premiership - game 30)

matches:2016-17: ← 42game 4344 →

39y, 8m, 19d	Alan Archibald	Jim McIntyre

no changes
no changes

Kris Doolan (1-1, 64 mins); Kris Doolan (2-1, 79 mins)		Craig Curran (0-1, 58 mins)
Liam Lindsay (1-1, 64 mins); Adam Barton (2-1, 79 mins)		Liam Boyce (0-1, 58 mins)
Kris Doolan; Ryan Edwards; Steven Lawless		Kenny van der Weg; Martin Woods; Marcus Fraser

Abdul Osman (Danny Devine, 45 mins); Chris Erskine (Ade Azeez, 63 mins)		Jay McEveley (Michael Gardyne, 77 mins); Christopher Routis (Jim O'Brien, 80 mins); Craig Curran (Ryan Dow, 83 mins)

31y, 11m, 22d	Tomáš Černý	Scott Fox former Jag
29y, 7m, 25d	Mustapha Dumbuya	Marcus Fraser
25y, 10m, 6d	Christie Elliott	Jason Naismith
21y, 5m, 20d	Liam Lindsay	Christopher Routis
21y, 11m, 27d	Niall Keown	Jay McEveley
30y, 1m, 5d	Abdul Osman	Martin Woods future Jag
26y, 2m, 25d	Adam Barton	Liam Boyce
30y, 1m, 24d	Chris Erskine	Craig Curran
30y, 3m, 21d	Kris Doolan	Andrew Davies
23y, 4m, 15d	Ryan Edwards	Alex Schalk
25y, 11m, 20d	Steven Lawless	Kenny van der Weg

27y, 0m, 1d

26y, 7m, 23d	Mark Ridgers	Aaron McCarey
25y, 10m, 2d	Callum Booth	Jim O'Brien
25y, 11m, 19d	David Amoo	Michael Gardyne
24y, 6m, 25d	Danny Devine	Ryan Dow
23y, 2m, 24d	Ade Azeez	Milan Lalkovic
20y, 0m, 24d	Kevin Nisbet	Reghan Tumilty
18y, 5m, 12d	Andy McCarthy	Dylan Dykes

notes

Thistle generally in playing order, opposition in squad number order.
Second-half bookings for County's Kenny van der Weg and Martin Woods were missed by the reporting network.

TTA report

Thistle were sluggish despite the lay-off and County shaded things and hit the bar (45) in a scrappy first half. A swerving shot put them ahead (58) but “April Dools Day“ was confirmed when Doolan scored goals 100 and 101 (set up by Lindsay, 64 and Barton with a lovely back-flick one-two, 79). Still top 6.

Media report

Alasdair Lamont, 01-Apr-2017, bbc.com

Kris Doolan scored twice as Partick Thistle fought back from behind to beat Ross County at Firhill. County's Marcus Fraser headed off the crossbar before Craig Curran gave the visitors the lead with a curled a left-foot shot. But Doolan rifled in an equaliser with a powerful shot, his 100th goal for Partick Thistle. And he added to that tally when he slipped between two defenders and fired past goalkeeper Scott Fox. Thistle had been in fine form before the recent international break, their unbeaten league run extending to five games. But aside from a couple of slick passing moves, their play was sluggish in the first period, with Chris Erskine typifying that. Erskine is frequently Thistle's classiest operator but he was off the boil against County, as his passes too often ran astray, though he was unfortunate to see his best effort well saved by Fox. As fate would have it, no sooner had he been substituted than Doolan swivelled on the edge of the box to lash in his 100th goal for the club. If Erskine is generally Thistle's creator-in-chief, no-one has proved a more reliable goal-getter than the industrious Doolan.

With Thistle now very much in the ascendancy, Liam Lindsay - also good for a goal - was denied twice in quick succession, firstly by Fox and then a brave block as the home side looked for the winner. When it did materialise, it was little surprise that Doolan again provided the clinical finish. A delightful one-two on the edge of the box with Adam Barton put the striker in on goal and he showed terrific poise to fire past Fox for the second time. Jim McIntyre, in the County dugout, must have wondered how his side had allowed their stranglehold on the game to slip away. Although their record coming into the game was wretched - just one win in eight - they enjoyed marginally the better of a poor first half. They might have taken the lead on the stroke of half-time but Fraser, having made a marauding run up field from centre-back, ultimately headed against the crossbar. They were good value for the opening goal though and it was Curran who grabbed it after Thistle had failed to deal with a Martin Woods cutback. But inexplicably they took their foot off the gas and slumped to another poor result, which does nothing for their hopes of steering clear of a relegation battle.

Reaction

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

I was his (Kris Doolan's) team-mate as well, he's one of the hardest working players and a real team player. Any of our young lads could pick Kris as a role model. He doesn't get the credit he deserves because he's at a club like Partick Thistle but he's very much appreciated with the fans and everybody at the club. We didn't really get going but we were much better in the second half. We showed great character to come back and see the game out. We know the run we've got coming up, we've got Celtic, Motherwell and Rangers coming up, but we'll go into these games with confidence.

Ross County manager Jim McIntyre (speaking to the BBC):

I was pleased with the way we approached the game and we were the better team in the first half. I thought the second half was quite even, but the free-kick which leads to the first goal is not a free-kick and he's got to give a penalty when Liam Lindsay has grabbed Alex Schalk's hand and spun him, so them two decisions went against us. The second goal is atrocious from our point of view. We've put so much into the game but come away with nothing, and that's killed our top six hopes.

KRIS DOOLAN HITS #1

● Tomáš Černý sets a new personal best of 19 consecutive competitive appearances.

● Liam Lindsay registers a candidate for the assist-of-the-season with his first of the campaign.

● With his 64th minute equaliser, Kris Doolan becomes the 9th man to score 100 competitive goals for Partick Thistle - the first new addition to the club since Davie McParland more than 50 years ago!

● By amazing co-incidence, Kris's 100th competitive goal is the one which sees him take over from Willie Sharp as Thistle's all-time top League goalscorer with 91 goals. After adding a 79th minute winner for good measure, the number nine now sits on 92, 2 ahead of Sharp who had occupied the top position for almost 70 years.

● Adam Barton gets his second assist of the season, both times for Kris Doolan.

● With his second goal of the game, Kris registered his seventh competitive goal against County, a tally which now sees him sit comfortably as our all-time leading marksman against the Dingwall side.

● With this second successive win over County, an unprecedented H2H run of 7 competitive games without a repeated outcome comes to a halt.

ongoing sequences:

● 6 League games without defeat, 18th Feb 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 6 games; 7th Nov 2015 to 30th Dec 2015. Club-record: 27 games; 21st Nov 1970 to 18th Sep 1971.)

● 38 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.)

● 58 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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