30th Dec 2017 Partick Thistle 2 Ross County 0 (SPFL Premiership - game 22)

matches:2017-18: ← 28game 2930 →

40y, 5m, 17d	Alan Archibald	Owen Coyle

Martin Woods; Kris Doolan; Miles Storey
Danny Devine; Conor Sammon; Andy McCarthy

Kris Doolan (1-0, 35 mins); Conor Sammon (2-0, 86 mins)
none (1-0, 35 mins); Andy McCarthy (2-0, 86 mins)
Paul McGinn; Andy McCarthy

Miles Storey (Conor Sammon, 25 mins); Martin Woods (Andy McCarthy, 53 mins)		Billy McKay (Craig Curran, 57 mins); Sean Kelly (Davis Keillor-Dunn, 57 mins); Michael Gardyne (Chris Eagles, 75 mins)

32y, 8m, 20d	Tomáš Černý	Scott Fox former Jag
27y, 2m, 8d	Paul McGinn	Marcus Fraser
26y, 8m, 18d	Steven Lawless	Christopher Routis
23y, 2m, 0d	Jordan Turnbull	Andrew Davies
22y, 8m, 25d	Niall Keown	Jason Naismith
26y, 11m, 23d	Adam Barton	Sean Kelly former Jag
22y, 0m, 11d	Blair Spittal	Michael Gardyne
31y, 11m, 29d	Martin Woods	Tim Chow
31y, 0m, 19d	Kris Doolan	Alex Schalk
24y, 1m, 13d	Ryan Edwards	Jamie Lindsay
23y, 11m, 26d	Miles Storey	Billy McKay

26y, 7m, 9d

25y, 2m, 1d	Ryan Scully	Aaron McCarey
25y, 3m, 23d	Danny Devine	Ryan Dow
27y, 0m, 17d	Milan Nitrianský	Craig Curran
31y, 1m, 24d	Conor Sammon	Ross Draper
20y, 9m, 22d	Kevin Nisbet	Kenny van der Weg
19y, 2m, 10d	Andy McCarthy	Chris Eagles
		Davis Keillor-Dunn

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Thistle filled only 6 of their 7 allocated bench slots.
Despite the stats network (including SPFL) saying that Conor Sammon (62 mins) received Thistle's only yellow card, the reality is that Paul McGinn (62 mins) and Andy McCarthy (88 mins) were receivers, as verified by the video evidence.

TTA report

County had a goal chalked off for off-side before Doolan latched on to a poor pass-back to round the keeper (35) then County sent a power header wide. After half-time Thistle showed glimpses of neat one-touch passing. Sammon went close twice before he cut inside to fire home a fine McCarthy pass (86).

Media report

Alasdair Lamont, 30-Dec-2017, bbc.com

Partick Thistle won to leave Ross County bottom of the Scottish Premiership before the winter break. County fell behind when captain Andrew Davies' passback was intercepted by Kris Doolan and the striker rounded Scott Fox to score. Substitute Conor Sammon tested Fox twice as Thistle pressed for a second. And Sammon did find the net late on to ensure County trail Thistle by three points as the league goes into hiatus until late January. It's a huge victory - not least psychologically - for Thistle. They have their home form to thank for still being in touch with the teams around them - this was their fifth win in their past six games at Firhill.

Ross County manager Owen Coyle will spend the winter break trying to work out how to arrest a run of nine games without a win. The meaningful first-half action was almost entirely confined to a four-minute period, during which the crucial breakthrough was made. That came about utterly needlessly as far as County were concerned. Davies had possession in a comfortable position 40 yards from his own goal, but for reasons best known to him, he turned and played a woefully short pass in the direction of Fox. Doolan anticipated the mistake, latching on to the loose ball before rounding the stranded Fox and side-footing into the net despite the despairing efforts of Davies to get back to rescue the situation. Having failed in that regard, the County skipper had the opportunity to redeem himself at the other end just a few minutes later. However, the unmarked centre-back spurned that chance, heading wide from six yards out.

County may point to the other incident of note in the first period, a Sean Kelly 'goal' chalked off for offside by the assistant referee Sean Carr - the official who failed to spot Oli Shaw's 'goal' for Hibs in last week's Edinburgh derby. Otherwise, Tomas Cerny was largely untroubled in the Thistle goal, whereas Fox had to make two crucial saves to keep his side in the contest. On both occasions, it was Sammon who was denied. He bullied Marcus Fraser off the ball before firing goalwards and when Fox kept that effort out, Doolan was only inches away from knocking in the rebound. Fox was on hand again to block Sammon's next goalbound strike but he could do nothing about the goal that secured the points. The substitute's pace had caused problems since his early introduction for the injured Miles Storey and it was telling here as he raced on to an Andrew McCarthy pass, cut infield and curled the ball past the keeper.

Reaction

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

I thought it was a very scrappy first half, there wasn't a lot in it and the mistake leads to our goal. Second half, we had a number of chances to put the game to bed and didn't take them until Connor got his reward for an outstanding performance. It certainly helps [being off the bottom]. We go into the winter break with a bit of positivity and hopefully come out with three players back from injury. The results today make the bottom half of the table ever so tight and we need to be ready after the break. The games against teams round about us are going to be so important and victories like today's against our closest rivals are massive for us.

Ross County manager Owen Coyle (speaking to the BBC):

The first 45 minutes I felt we were very comfortable and obviously we've made a horrendous mistake. It was very unlike the skipper. He's had a few niggly injuries but he's been prepared to put himself out there. My disappointment is the reaction in the second half. We huffed and puffed without any real penetration or goalscoring chances. There's no doubt there's a lot of hard work ahead of us but we knew that when we came in. If that means adding a few players to the squad and hopefully adding quality then that's what we'll look to do.

HOME IS WHERE THE POINTS ARE

● 23-year-old Jordan Turnbull plays his last game for Thistle.

● Man-of-the-match Adam Barton makes his 50th consecutive competitive appearance, and in doing so achieves the impressive feat of appearing in every competitive match of the calendar year. Aaron Taylor-Sinclair was the last Jag to do such a thing, appearing in all 43 competitive games of 2013.

● With his 8th goal against them, Kris Doolan extends his position as Thistle's highest-ever competitve scorer vs. County.

● Andy McCarthy gets his first assist for Thistle.

● Jags go 5 games without defeat versus County, and are 1 away from equalling the H2H record of 6, set in 2010.

● Thistle win 5 out of 6 home fixtures in the top-flight for the first time since Bertie Auld's troops closed the calendar year with 5 straight home League wins in 1978.

● An incredible 85% of Thistle's League points have been earned at Firhill in 2017-18. On a "real" basis, this projects to be the second greatest share of all-time, pipped by the imbalanced gather of 85.29% in 1935-36. On a universal "3 pts-per-win" basis, this season's total projects to be third greatest share of all-time, behind 89.13% (1935-36) and 88.24% (1912-13).

ongoing sequences:

● 4 consecutive away League defeats; 9th Dec 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 4 defeats; 13th Jan 2012 to 6th Mar 2012. Club-record: 14 defeats; 6th Apr 1912 to 25th Jan 1913.)

● 4 consecutive competitive away defeats; 9th Dec 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 4 defeats; 30th Aug 2014 to 29th Oct 2014. Club-record: 11 defeats; 4th Dec 1897 to 15th Oct 1898.)

● 10 competitive away games without a win; 19th Aug 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 11 games; 24th Feb 2007 to 6th Oct 2007. Club-record: 25 games; 20th Apr 1908 to 28th Aug 1909.)

● 16 away League games without a win; 18th Mar 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 17 games; 16th Aug 2003 to 17th Apr 2004. Club-record: 26 games; 20th Mar 1935 to 29th Aug 1936.)

● 50 consecutive competitive appearances for Adam Barton, 28th Dec 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.)

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

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