11th Aug 2017 Partick Thistle 0 Celtic 1 (SPFL Premiership - game 2)

matches:2017-18: ← 07game 0809 →

40y, 0m, 29d	Alan Archibald	Brendan Rodgers

Niall Keown; Stuart Bannigan; Kris Doolan; Conor Sammon
Danny Devine; Abdul Osman; Kevin Nisbet; Chris Erskine

		Scott Brown (0-1, 25 mins)
		Olivier Ntcham (0-1, 25 mins)
Stuart Bannigan		Kieran Tierney

Kris Doolan (Miles Storey, 58 mins); Steven Lawless (Chris Erskine, 64 mins); Stuart Bannigan (Andy McCarthy, 82 mins)		Callum McGregor (Tom Rogic, 62 mins); Jonny Hayes (Leigh Griffiths, 62 mins); Olivier Ntcham (Stuart Armstrong, 78 mins)

32y, 4m, 1d	Tomáš Černý	Craig Gordon
26y, 2m, 16d	Christie Elliott	Jozo Simunovic
26y, 2m, 12d	Callum Booth	Nir Bitton
22y, 9m, 12d	Jordan Turnbull	Mikael Lustig
22y, 4m, 6d	Niall Keown	Kieran Tierney
26y, 7m, 4d	Adam Barton	Scott Brown
26y, 3m, 30d	Steven Lawless	Scott Sinclair
24y, 10m, 25d	Stuart Bannigan	Jonny Hayes
30y, 8m, 0d	Kris Doolan	Olivier Ntcham
23y, 8m, 25d	Ryan Edwards	Callum McGregor
30y, 9m, 5d	Conor Sammon	James Forrest

26y, 7m, 15d

24y, 9m, 13d	Ryan Scully	Dorus de Vries
30y, 6m, 3d	Chris Erskine	Kris Ajer
26y, 7m, 29d	Milan Nitrianský	Anthony Ralston
20y, 5m, 3d	Kevin Nisbet	Stuart Armstrong
18y, 7m, 20d	James Penrice	Tom Rogic
18y, 9m, 22d	Andy McCarthy	Kundai Benyu
23y, 7m, 7d	Miles Storey	Leigh Griffiths

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Originally scheduled for Saturday, August 12th, 2017.
The stats network credits Olivier Ntcham with Celtic's goal, seemingly based on sympathetic grounds for having made a decent strike of the ball. However, the player's 25th minute volley clearly took a deflection off Scott Brown en-route to goal. In our opinion, Tomáš Černý would have saved the shot otherwise. Even if he wouldn't have, the goal should still belong to Brown as he, as a player of the attacking team, got the final touch, and that's the indisputable fact of the matter.

TTA report

Celtic (unbeaten in 51) were streets ahead in possession but a volley from 25 yards deflected past Cerny (25) was enough. A better second half from Thistle saw Doolan miss with a header and a strong pen claim (90) was ignored but, in truth, they created very little. It was an outstanding defensive performance however.

Media report

Tom English, 11-Aug-2017, bbc.com

Defending champions Celtic survived a late penalty claim to earn a 1-0 win over Partick Thistle at Firhill. Olivier Ntcham volleyed Celtic in front by virtue of a deflection off captain Scott Brown. Kris Doolan passed up a golden opportunity to equalise when he put a free header over from close range. There was late controversy when referee Andrew Dallas waved away strong shouts for a penalty after Nir Bitton appeared to shove Miles Storey in the box. But Celtic, not at their fluid best, survived to maintain their winning start to the season and extend their unbeaten domestic run to 51 matches.

Thistle started one of their new signings, Conor Sammon, and the other, Storey came off the bench, as did Leigh Griffiths. James Forrest played through the middle until the striker made his appearance on the hour-mark. Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers said before kick-off that he was hopeful of bringing in another player, possibly even before the Astana game in the Champions League on Wednesday night. Celtic have been pushing hard to resign Patrick Roberts from Manchester City, a player whom the visiting support adore and a man whose name they chanted during the game. Was Rodgers referring to Roberts when talking about a new arrival? He wouldn't say. How Celtic people will hope that he comes back. How the rest of Scottish football will sigh if he does. It's hard enough to lay a glove on Rodgers' team as they are. The Jags were one of the few sides who had any joy from Celtic last season in domestic competition, taking a 1-1 draw away from Parkhead. The last time they were at Firhill, of course, Celtic won 5-0, and they started off brightly here again, without ever hitting full stride.

Filling in for Griffiths, Forrest had two early chances to opening the scoring, his first effort beaten away well by Tomas Cerny, his second driven wide of goal. The Jags' goalkeeper then made a fine save from a thumping Bitton free-kick. Celtic got their breakthrough when Jordan Turnbull's header was volleyed goalwards by Ntcham, the ball deflecting past Cerny off what Thistle claimed was the arm of Brown, not that Brown knew anything about it. He turned his body away from Ntcham's shot and the ball looked to come off him and find the net. Had it not, Cerny would probably have dealt with it comfortably enough. They felt a bit hard done by there, but Thistle had an excellent opportunity to wipe out Celtic's lead early in the second half. Christie Elliott's cross was met by the head of Doolan, who had lost Bitton. From close range, Doolan had to score. For such a dependable striker, you would have expected him to. He didn't. His header flew over. Celtic could not give themselves the cushion of a second goal against a resolute Thistle defence. Even when they looked like they were going to add a second, Callum Booth cleared off the line from Jozo Simunovic. The Jags had a huge penalty shout right at the end when Storey went down under a clumsy challenge from Bitton. Celtic, and their uncomfortable makeshift centre-half, looked like they got away with it. Thistle were left frustrated and angered. For Rodgers, another win, but a problem to solve, too. Does he dare go into Wednesday night's critical game with Astana with the Israeli at the heart of his defence?

Reaction

Speaking to the BBC, Partick Thistle boss Alan Archibald felt his side should have been given a penalty:

It's a foul anywhere else on the pitch. It's a big call in the last minute against Celtic. You don't often get them. We had one in midweek, we usually get one a year so we're not getting two in four days. We had one good chance [Doolan's] and the late penalty shout, we worked ever so hard, it's not easy to contain them. I know it's frustrating for our fans that we didn't come out and have a real go but you saw at the end there when we went with two strikers and they can quickly turn you over.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers believes referee Andrew Dallas was in a good position to make the penalty call, and felt his side deserved to claim all three points:

I'd need to see it again, it looked from where I was that Nir (Bitton) got a toe to it, and he was the right side of the defender. The pitch was maybe a bit slippy at that stage which is perhaps why the boy went down, but the ref was in a great position and he didn't give it. We will play better, of course - we were outstanding in the week [the 5-0 win over Kilmarnock] - but tonight is a game we will look back on at the end of the season and hopefully say it was an important three points. We could have been more comfortable in the game if we had put our chances away, but when it is still 1-0 you have to defend, and I thought the players were comfortable even though there was bit of pressure around our 18-yard box. We didn't quite perform as well as I would want - our standards are much higher than we showed - but it shows the resilience and mentality in the team to get the result tonight. That's maybe one of the games we would have drawn last season. So it's good the players can now see out games.

NO MILESTONE CELEBRATION

● 23-year-old Miles Storey makes his Thistle debut.

● 30-year-old Conor Sammon makes his Thistle debut.

● On the same day that he's unveiled as a new signing, 30-year-old Conor Sammon starts. The Irishman becomes the 129th member of the Thistle Internationalist's Club.

● Thistle meet Celtic at home in the League for the 100th time.

● For the first time in his managerial career, Alan Archibald loses a 6th consecutive League game.

● Thistle suffer a 14th consecutive home League defeat to Celtic (11.11.1995 to date), extending our longest such run against any team in history.

ongoing sequences:

● 4 consecutive home League defeats; 7th May 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 5 defeats; 23rd Aug 2003 to 22nd Nov 2003. Club-record: 10 defeats; 5th Dec 1908 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.)

● 6 consecutive League defeats; 7th May 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 10 defeats; 13th Sep 2003 to 29th Nov 2003. Club-record: 12 defeats; 27th Feb 1909 to 25th Aug 1909.)

● 8 League games without a win; 15th Apr 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 12 games; 9th May 2015 to 26th Sep 2015. Club-record: 26 games; 28th Nov 1908 to 2nd Oct 1909.)

● 29 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.

match hubs

match

The Thistle Archive

Partick Thistle stats and stories 1876 to date