21st May 2017 Partick Thistle 0 Aberdeen 6 (SPFL Premiership - game 38)

matches:2016-17: ← 50game 5101 →

39y, 10m, 8d	Alan Archibald	Derek McInnes

Mark Ridgers; Niall Keown; Andy McCarthy; Ryan Edwards; Ade Azeez
Tomáš Černý; Christie Elliott; Callum Booth; Danny Devine; Abdul Osman

		Ryan Christie (0-1, 7 mins); Scott Wright (0-2, 11 mins); Scott Wright (0-3, 17 mins); Jonny Hayes (0-4, 26 mins); Ryan Christie (0-5, 45 mins); Scott Wright (0-6, 51 mins)
		Ash Taylor (0-1, 7 mins); none (0-2, 11 mins); Kenny McLean (0-3, 17 mins); Shay Logan (0-4, 26 mins); Andrew Considine (0-5, 45 mins); Ryan Christie (0-6, 51 mins)
Ryan Edwards; Mark Lamont		Andrew Considine; Peter Pawlett

David Amoo (Ross Fleming, 30 mins); Steven Lawless (Mark Lamont, 68 mins); Andy McCarthy (Neil McLaughlin, 78 mins)		Kenny McLean (Peter Pawlett, HT); Mark Reynolds (Ryan Jack, HT); Jonny Hayes (Frank Ross, 65 mins)

26y, 9m, 12d	Mark Ridgers	Joe Lewis
26y, 1m, 8d	David Amoo	Shay Logan
26y, 1m, 9d	Steven Lawless	Andrew Considine
21y, 7m, 9d	Liam Lindsay	Ash Taylor
22y, 1m, 16d	Niall Keown	Mark Reynolds
26y, 4m, 14d	Adam Barton	Kenny McLean
18y, 7m, 1d	Andy McCarthy	Ryan Christie
23y, 6m, 4d	Ryan Edwards	Adam Rooney
30y, 5m, 10d	Kris Doolan	Jonny Hayes
23y, 4m, 13d	Ade Azeez	Anthony O'Connor
30y, 3m, 13d	Chris Erskine	Scott Wright

25y, 0m, 8d

24y, 6m, 22d	Ryan Scully	Neil Alexander
18y, 6m, 15d	Neil McLaughlin	Graeme Shinnie
19y, 2m, 26d	Mark Lamont	Niall McGinn
17y, 9m, 12d	Ross Fleming	Peter Pawlett
17y, 10m, 28d	Callum Wilson	Ryan Jack
		Frank Ross
		Miles Storey future Jag

notes

Thistle generally in playing order, opposition in squad number order.
Thistle filled only 5 of their 7 allocated bench slots.

TTA report

Half a team missing, makeshift defence, players playing out of position and showing little commitment (excluding McCarthy) made for an embarrassing end to the season. 5-0 down at half-time, at least the second half was less painful. A rare attempt on goal saw Azeez miss his now traditional 1-on-1 with the keeper.

Media report

Alasdair Lamont, 21-May-2017, bbc.com

Teenager Scott Wright scored a hat-trick as Aberdeen ended their Scottish Premiership campaign by thumping Partick Thistle. The 19-year-old pounced twice in six first-half minutes after Ryan Christie's opener, and completed his treble after the break. On-loan Celtic player Christie bagged a second on the stroke of half-time. The midfielder's goal came after Jonny Hayes finished a sumptuous attacking move to score the Dons' fourth. The Firhill rout means Aberdeen have recorded their highest-ever top-flight points tally, finishing on a total of 76, 30 behind champions Celtic in second place. After their midweek dismantling by Brendan Rodgers' men, Thistle have now conceded 11 goals in their final two league fixtures.

Aberdeen could have been forgiven for going through the motions in a final league match that paled in significance compared to next week's Scottish Cup final meeting with Celtic. But it soon became apparent they had no intention of finishing the league season in anything but the style that has propelled them comfortably to the runners-up spot once again. From the moment Christie fired past the beleaguered Thistle keeper Mark Ridgers, they had the bit between their teeth, playing with energy, drive and no little skill. Wright took his first goal well but Aberdeen's third was hugely impressive as Kenny McLean played a perfectly-weighted pass for Wright to smash home. The fourth and fifth were also a joy to watch - Adam Rooney's clever dummy allowing Hayes to slide in and Christie superbly hammering Andrew Considine's cross past Ridgers. Granted Celtic are a different proposition and Wright is unlikely to keep Niall McGinn out of the starting line-up on such a big occasion, but McInnes knows he has an exciting option in the young forward. Ryan Jack's return to action off the bench, along with Peter Pawlett, means McInnes will have as close to a full-strength squad to pick from as possible, but the enforced absence of Christie is a blow, albeit one the manager will have long prepared for.

Thistle have faced both cup finalists in successive games and have shipped 11 goals with no reply. Alan Archibald's squad has run out of steam in dramatic fashion since clinching a top-six spot, with no wins in their final six matches. With 10 first-team players unavailable to Archibald for this match, the manager was forced to list only five players on the bench, with all four outfield players inexperienced youths. Ross Fleming, Mark Lamont and Neil McLaughlin were all thrown on in an unforgiving environment and should not be damaged in the long-term despite a humiliating defeat, which got no worse primarily because Aberdeen eased off in the final half-hour, preserving their energy for the biggest match of the season.

Reaction

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

We'd 10 key first-team players out and I think it showed. There were a couple of guys playing out of position and didn't handle it very well and we were playing a good side as well. Our fans have been outstanding. You heard them singing throughout the game. I think they recognised today that we were up against it but it does leave a bit of a bad taste in the way we've finished the season. It lets us reflect over the summer. We won't be thinking we're this or we're that, there's realisation there we've got a lot of work to do.

Abderdeen manager Derek McInnes (speaking to the BBC):

We scored some really fantastic goals, got some really strong individual performances, the clean sheet, minutes into players and real positives with young Scott Wright getting the hat-trick. I'm really pleased to come through without any injuries, which was the most important thing. To get 76 points and break our own record for a team outwith the Old Firm, I've been delighted with what the players have given me this league campaign, they deserve so much credit. Every day is an opportunity. We just said to Scott (Wright) go and play the way you've been training, which is really positive, and the way the game was, we managed to get that first pass into him and made it a running game for him and when he can run at people he lights the game up.

A RECORD END-OF-SEASON HOME LOSS

● The closing game of the 142nd season of Partick Thistle F.C.

● For only the third time ever, Thistle's bench is two men short of the permitted allocation of seven. In total, there have been 7 shortages for Thistle in that department this term, in stark contrast to our opponents who have been complete every time.

● Ross Fleming (17) and Callum Wilson (17) appear on a teamsheet at first-team level for the first time, bringing Thistle's season-total to 35 players to feature in competitive match-day squads.

● 17-year-old Ross Fleming makes his Thistle debut.

● 19-year-old Mark Lamont makes his Thistle debut.

● 21-year-old Liam Lindsay plays his last game for Thistle.

● 23-year-old Ade Azeez plays his last game for Thistle.

● 26-year-old David Amoo plays his last game for Thistle.

● 26-year-old Mark Ridgers plays his last game for Thistle.

● Ade Azeez (46/46) becomes the first player since Scott Boyd (42/42 in 2006-07) to have a 100% competitive appearance record for the season.

● In competitive action, Ade Azeez has been involved in 40 substitutions this term, smashing the previous record of 37 held by Kris Doolan in 2012-13.

● David Amoo is the only Thistle player to have suffered the ignominy of being "hooked" in the first half this season, and does so for the second time, following on from a similar occurrence at Tannadice in August.

● 17-year-old Ross Fleming (born 9 August 1999) takes over from Ian Stokes as the most recently born player to see action in the Thistle first team.

● Thistle's concession of 5 first-half goals matches the highest tally ever seen at Firhill. It's our heaviest half-time deficit since we similarly trailed by 5 to nil at home to Hibernian in December, 1959.

● In the 78th minute, Neil McLaughlin (18) makes his second competitive appearance almost 2 years to the day since he first did so in an end-of-season encounter at Fir Park. He becomes the 30th and final player to make an appearance in competitive action this term.

● Stand-in 'keeper Ridgers will leave Firhill with a shocking personal record, having conceded 12 goals in 180 minutes in the "All Games" category. Ridgers, who conceded within 60 seconds of his debut, can lay claim, statistically, to equalling the worst opening 180 minutes on record, Peter Thompson having conceded 12 in his opening 180 minutes back in August, 1898.

● The 6 goal losing margin equals the club's worst-ever end-of-season result, and is the worst since a 1-7 loss at Kilbowie in May, 1991.

● The result stands outright as Thistle's all-time heaviest home defeat in a season closer.

● For the first time ever in competitive action, Thistle make it 5 consecutive home losses to Aberdeen.

ongoing sequences:

● 4 consecutive competitive defeats, 7th May 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 4 defeats, 9th Aug 2016 to 10th Sep 2016. Club-record: 14 defeats, 3rd Jan 1898 to 15th Oct 1898.)

● 4 consecutive League defeats; 7th May 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 5 defeats; 22nd Aug 2015 to 26th Sep 2015. Club-record: 12 defeats; 27th Feb 1909 to 25th Aug 1909.)

● 6 competitive away games without a win; 5th Mar 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 7 games; 9th May 2015 to 26th Sep 2015. Club-record: 25 games; 20th Apr 1908 to 28th Aug 1909.)

● 6 competitive games without a win, 15th Apr 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 7 games, 4th Nov 2016 to 20th Dec 2016. Club-record: 26 games, 28th Nov 1908 to 28th Aug 1909.)

● 6 League games without a win; 15th Apr 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 7 games; 4th Nov 2016 to 20th Dec 2016. Club-record: 26 games; 28th Nov 1908 to 2nd Oct 1909.)

● 46 consecutive competitive appearances for Ade Azeez, 15th July 2016 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Steven Lawless - 53 games; 9th Aug 2015 to 15th Oct 2016. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games; 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

● 62 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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