8th Aug 2017 St Johnstone 0 Partick Thistle 3 (League Cup 2nd Round)

matches:2017-18: ← 06game 0708 →

Match Information

			Tommy Wright		Alan Archibald			40y, 0m, 26d
					Jordan Turnbull; Ryan Edwards; Kevin Nisbet
					Niall Keown; Stuart Bannigan; Kris Doolan
					Steven Lawless (1-0, pen 50 mins); Ryan Edwards (2-0, 62 mins); Chris Erskine (3-0, 90 mins)
					none (1-0, pen 50 mins); Steven Lawless (2-0, 62 mins); Kevin Nisbet (3-0, 90 mins)
Michael O'Halloran; Murray Davidson; Richard Foster					Kevin Nisbet
Liam Craig (Stefan Scougall, 58 mins); Blair Alston (Graham Cummins, 64 mins); Steven MacLean (Chris Kane, 79 mins)					Danny Devine (Niall Keown, 30 mins); Steven Lawless (Stuart Bannigan, 77 mins)
			Alan Mannus		Tomáš Černý			32y, 3m, 29d
			Joe Shaughnessy		Christie Elliott			26y, 2m, 13d
			future Jag Steven Anderson		Callum Booth			26y, 2m, 9d
			future Jag Richard Foster		Jordan Turnbull			22y, 9m, 9d
			Brian Easton		Danny Devine			24y, 11m, 1d
			future Jag Blair Alston		Abdul Osman			30y, 5m, 12d
			Murray Davidson		Adam Barton			26y, 7m, 1d
			David Wotherspoon		Ryan Edwards			23y, 8m, 22d
			Liam Craig		Kevin Nisbet			20y, 5m, 0d
			Steven MacLean		Chris Erskine			30y, 6m, 0d
			Michael O'Halloran		Steven Lawless			26y, 3m, 27d
								26y, 4m, 25d
			Zander Clark		Ryan Scully			24y, 9m, 10d
			Scott Tanser		Niall Keown			22y, 4m, 3d
			Kyle McClean		Stuart Bannigan			24y, 10m, 22d
			Stefan Scougall		Milan Nitrianský			26y, 7m, 26d
			Chris Kane		James Penrice			18y, 7m, 17d
			Ally Gilchrist		Andy McCarthy			18y, 9m, 19d
			Graham Cummins		Neil McLaughlin			18y, 9m, 2d

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.

Match Report

TTA report

The first half was uneventful. Lawless broke the deadlock with a pen (foul on Nisbet, 50) and Edwards found the top corner from 25 yards (62). Saints had lots of pressure/corners but their efforts on goal were poor. A long clearance by Cerny was flicked on by Nisbet for Erskine (90) to round off a good night's work.

Media report

08-Aug-2017, bbc.com

Partick Thistle reached the League Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2014 as they knocked out St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. Thistle took the lead when Kevin Nisbet was brought down by Joe Shaughnessy and Steven Lawless scored the penalty. Ryan Edwards then thumped in an outstanding strike from 20 yards. Chris Erskine rounded off the win after jinking his way into the box and picking his spot beyond goalkeeper Alan Mannus. Saints were left to rue missed chances with Steven Anderson heading wide and Graham Cummins missing when one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

Nisbet was handed his second start for Thistle after Kris Doolan picked up a hamstring injury and the 20-year-old showed his youthful innocence early in the first half when he stayed on his feet after having his ankle clipped as he turned inside Anderson. The striker had a shot blocked but had been knocked off his stride by the challenge and referee Euan Anderson played on. Nisbet got the only shot on target of the first half after robbing Shaughnessy and showing good feet before his near-post effort was blocked by Mannus. The visitors were again without the injured Blair Spittal and they lost Danny Devine on the half-hour mark after he failed to run off an early knock.

After an uneventful first half, it was no surprise that the breakthrough came from a set-piece - but the penalty award shocked the hosts as Anderson claimed he got the ball as he and Nisbet chased Erskine's forward pass. The striker was going away from goal just inside the box and Lawless took full advantage of the unexpected chance by sending Mannus the wrong way. Anderson quickly had a header cleared off the line by Erskine before Nisbet twice curled shots wide from just outside the box. Saints skipper Anderson's nightmare continued when he somehow sent a free header wide from six yards following Wotherspoon's cross. And Edwards lit up the game when he curled into the top corner after a neat exchange of passes just outside the Saints box. The hosts had a chance to get back into it when Steven MacLean threaded Cummins through but the substitute lacked composure and sliced wide from 18 yards. Saints continued to press but it was evident it was not to be their night when Shaughnessy failed to beat Tomas Cerny from six yards - and that was confirmed when the referee waved away penalty appeals as Cummins went down under the aerial challenge of Niall Keown. And Erskine soon raced away to finish in style after an excellent flick-on by Nisbet.

Reaction

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

It's a really tough place to come and the first goal is often the winner. I'm delighted for Ryan Edwards. He didn't have the best of pre-seasons but he certainly made a difference to the team tonight. Hopefully we can kick on in the league now. We've got a tough one next with Celtic but thankfully we're in the next round.

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

The score probably doesn't reflect the game but we're out of the cup because we haven't done well enough. In terms of chances we had enough good opportunities. We were trying to walk the ball into the net. It was a rusty performance in front of goal. They were ruthless. There's positives in the number of chances we created in the second half. The negative side is we're out of the cup and we could have defended the first and third goals better.

Scrapbook

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Daily Record, 9th August, 2017

Video Highlights

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Stats Watch

ANOTHER PERTH RECORD FOR ARCHIE'S JAGS

● 22-year-old Jordan Turnbull makes his Thistle debut.

● Steven Lawless makes his 200th competitive appearance and marks the occasion by succesfully converting his first-ever penalty-kick as a Jag.

● Thistle are on a run of 5 successive penalty conversions (shoot-outs excepted).

● Thistle win a competitive match without Kris Doolan for the first time since the 4-0 win at Inverness way back in December, 2014.

● Archie's Jags become the first Thistle side in history to return home from Perth with a 3 goal victory margin. It's a nice follow-up to the record-making 4-in-a-row competitive away wins streak which was recently set there between 2015-2017.

● Thistle progress to their seventeenth League Cup Quarter Final.

● Thistle have qualified for the League Cup Quarter Finals in all 8 decades of the tournament's existence. It's been 42 years since the last semi-final appearance.

ongoing sequences:

● 5 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 away League games without a win; 18th Mar 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 7 games; 9th May 2015 to 26th Sep 2015. Club-record: 26 games; 20th Mar 1935 to 29th Aug 1936.)

● 7 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.)

● 28 consecutive competitive appearances for Adam Barton, 28th Dec 2016 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Kris Doolan - 39 games; 15th Oct 2016 to 5th Aug 2017. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games; 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

● 63 away League games without a penalty award, 1st Mar 2014 to date. (A new club-record.)

Stats Watch adheres to our stated definitions of League, League Max, Major Competitive, Competitive or All Games. Where there is no written qualification, you should presume that the Stat in question is compiled from the All Games criteria.

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