The Thistle Archive

Partick Thistle will finish in the Scottish Premiership's top six for the first time after beating Motherwell, who slipped to second bottom. Chris Erskine crossed low for Kris Doolan to tap home and give the Jags an early lead. Adam Barton and Steven Lawless came close to doubling the hosts' advantage. After a poor first half Well carved out chances to score in the second, Zak Jules's header kept out by goalkeeper Tomas Cerny. With one more round of fixtures to play before the Premiership splits in two, Thistle have a seven-point gap over Kilmarnock and will face Celtic, Aberdeen, Rangers, St Johnstone and Hearts in the final few weeks of the season. Before then, they will visit Rangers next weekend, when Motherwell host basement side Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Having come from a goal down to beat Ross County last week and drawing away to champions Celtic on Wednesday, Thistle's confidence was high and they were in a hurry to make that count. Doolan scored both goals against County - his 100th and 101st for the Jags - and the striker marked being captain for the day with a simple finish off Erskine's ball across from the left. Barton's free-kick drifted narrowly past the left-hand post and Lawless's shot was deflected on to the crossbar. And Doolan should have got Thistle's second following an incisive pass by Ryan Edwards, the striker firing across the face of goal from the right of the six-yard box. Other than an early Scott McDonald header that was blocked out for a corner, Motherwell failed to seriously trouble their hosts in the opening period.

Manager Stephen Robinson needed a reaction in the second half and sent on Keith Lasley and Lionel Ainsworth in place of Elliott Frear and Craig Clay. Shea Gordon flashed the ball across goal but the stretching McDonald could not apply the finish, Cerny clawed away Jules's header and Lasley's effort did not trouble the Jags goalkeeper. A late scramble in the box did not provide the telling shot at goal the visitors needed as Thistle held on, leaving Motherwell four points above Inverness and below Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton Academical on goal difference. Lawless dragged a shot wide after driving at the Well defence but Alan Archibald's side struggled to create as many openings in the second half. But one goal proved to be enough to ensure they will claim their highest top-flight finish since 1981. They had been bottom of the division in December, a couple of months after Archibald stayed at the club following an approach by Shrewsbury Town. He will now have the chance to get Thistle even higher in the Premiership with only three points separating the Jags from Hearts.

Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald:

I definitely didn't [foresee a top-six finish after the first quarter]. It's a great achievement from December; when we went to Celtic Park [after 17 games], we were bottom of the league. It's probably up there with winning the league. It's very, very similar to that and credit to the players, we've got a real good group. I'm delighted we did it ourselves. We didn't have to rely on anybody else. It was a fantastic 1-0 performance. Our back three were outstanding. It's fitting that we won the match with a wonderful save from Tomas Cerny in the end. It's just more relief when you look at the bottom half of the table - it's horrible to be involved in that, we have been. We can look forward and look at the next games and go and enjoy them and hopefully get as many points on the board as we can.

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson:

We lost the game in the first 30 minutes. We didn't start well enough, we didn't compete well enough and we didn't pass the ball. We showed a lack of composure as well. The transformation in the second half and probably the last 10 minutes of the first half was too little, too late. We were happy to get in 1-0 [down] at half-time, try and sort some things out, make a few changes to the system and the personnel and it worked to an extent. Obviously, we dominated the whole second half but you can't start football matches like that. I asked for a reaction, I got the reaction but we didn't get the end product. Players are well aware of that and they need to produce better performances than they did in the first 30 minutes to make sure we stay in this division.

bbc.com

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BEST TOP-FLIGHT RUN IN 40 YEARS

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