The Thistle Archive

Livingston will take a one-goal lead to Firhill in the Premiership play-off final second leg after a deserved home win over Partick Thistle. Kris Doolan got his head to a long ball from Baily Cargill to nod Partick Thistle in front. However, within minutes Keaghan Jacobs found space on the right and picked a spot in the bottom far corner. And when Josh Mullin got to the byline his low cut-back found Scott Pittman to finish from close range. The two sides meet again on Sunday in Glasgow to determine who plays in the Scottish Premiership next season.

History tells us that the Premiership side tends to triumph in these play-off scenarios. Sometimes the system seems weighted towards that outcome. In this case, Partick Thistle are the side with all the problems to solve. They have had a fragility about them over the course of the season and it was clearly evident here. They knew what Livingston's approach would be but seemed unable to do too much about it for long spells. David Hopkin's side started with real authority and pinned Thistle into their own half in the opening minutes. The visitors began to edge forward, but came close to conceding when a free-kick was fired deep to the back post with Jackson Longridge heading it back across goal. The Jags took the lead, though, when Cargill measured a ball over Alan Lithgow which Doolan anticipated. He timed his run perfectly and nodded home with typical authority. It was a big question for Livingston but they were undaunted. That they were is perhaps a measure of their mentality given the importance of the occasion. Within minutes they were level when Jordan Thompson released Jacobs, who thrashed the ball past Tomas Cerny from an angle.

The home side continued playing to their strengths. They won high balls, second balls and looked purposeful in possession. A significant section of the home support believed they had stormed in front when Thompson drilled a low effort just wide of the post. A similar pattern continued in the second half. The home side dictated much of the proceedings and defended stoutly when required, which was not very often. Pittman gathered and surged past Cargill, but he had to check slightly, allowing the keeper to race from his line and block his shot. Livingston deserved to take a lead into the second leg and as the clock ticked on they got their reward with a fabulous move. Substitute Mullin got to the byline and squared for Pittman, who slammed high into the net from close range after a lung-bursting run from deep.

David Hopkin says his Livingston players' recovery will be crucial to their hopes of staving off a Partick Thistle comeback on Sunday:

Our squad's down to the bare bones and the players give me everything. I'm so proud of every player. We just keep going and we just keep defying the odds. Tonight, to win 2-1 at home, it's great to finish the season at home with a win, I thought they were fantastic. We score a fantastic equaliser. At half-time, I keep saying, if it had finished at 1-1, I'd have been delighted. Josh Mullin's gone and put a fantastic ball in and then Scott Pittman, what a finish it is to go near post. The biggest thing about us now is recovery. We've only got 15 fit players. It's about patching players up. We know it's going to be a hard shift on Sunday. It's only half-time. I just wish the games were played over one leg.

Partick Thistle now need to score to prevent relegation to the second tier and manager Alan Archibald said of his side's performance in Livingston:

I didn't think we played at all. We got drawn into playing long, aimless balls up front to our two strikers, which is something we've not done when we've played that kind of system and that shape recently so that was disappointing. The goal probably overshadowed what a bad start we had. We've got to get more efforts on goal, we've got to score goals, obviously, to get back into the tie. We're fighting for our lives, they're trying to take our place, we've got to make sure we're ready for that.

bbc.com

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DOOLAN CLOSING IN ON YET ANOTHER CLUB-RECORD

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