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matches:2018-19: ← 05game 0607 →

	former Jag / man. Ian McCall	Alan Archibald	41y, 0m, 22d

		Max Melbourne; Tam O'Ware
		Christie Elliott; Niall Keown

Lawrence Shankland (0-1, pen 7 mins); Lawrence Shankland (0-2, 18 mins)
none (0-1, pen 7 mins); Declan McDaid (0-2, 18 mins)
Jamie Adams		Shea Gordon; Miles Storey

Alan Forrest (Craig McGuffie, 68 mins); Declan McDaid (Ross Docherty, 84 mins); Andy Geggan (David Ferguson, 86 mins)		Max Melbourne (Aidan Fitzpatrick, 59 mins)

	Ross Doohan	Cammy Bell	31y, 10m, 17d
	Daniel Harvie	Max Melbourne	19y, 9m, 11d
	Michael Rose	James Penrice	19y, 7m, 13d
	future Jag Andy Geggan	Tam O'Ware	25y, 4m, 15d
	Michael Moffat	Sean McGinty	24y, 11m, 24d
	future Jag Robbie Crawford	Shea Gordon	20y, 2m, 19d
	Alan Forrest	Craig Slater	24y, 3m, 9d
	former Jag Declan McDaid	Blair Spittal	22y, 7m, 16d
	former Jag Jamie Adams	Kris Doolan	31y, 7m, 24d
	Lawrence Shankland	Chris Erskine	31y, 5m, 27d
	Andy Murdoch	Miles Storey	24y, 7m, 0d

			25y, 1m, 16d

	Ellis Hare-Reid	Jamie Sneddon	20y, 10m, 29d
	Craig McGuffie	Niall Keown	23y, 3m, 30d
	David Ferguson	Aidan Fitzpatrick	17y, 4m, 15d
	future Jag Steven Bell	Callum Wilson	19y, 1m, 12d
	future Jag Ross Docherty
	Luke McCowan

	Teamlines derived from PTFC. Thistle generally in playing order, opposition in squad number order. Thistle filled only 4 of their 7 allocated bench slots, whilst Ayr United filled only 6 of theirs.
	Bizarrely, Craig Thomson kicked-off the game almost 5 minutes early!
	3249 (SPFL)

A pen (foul by McGinty) put Thistle behind (7) then the hapless debutant Melbourne made a hash of a clearance that led to the 2nd (18). Doolan's header and Slater's drive were as close as Thistle got. Positional changes at h-t improved things to some extent but they never looked like getting back into it.

Prolific striker Lawrence Shankland fired Ayr United to a dream start back in the Scottish Championship as they defeated relegated Partick Thistle. The 22-year-old notched his eight and ninth goals of the season - and his third in two games against Thistle - to fuel more speculation that his future could soon lie away from Somerset Park. Dundee have contacted the Honest Men about Shankland, who scored a penalty and then netted another ruthless strike from eight yards.

Ayr, last season's League One champions, have won all five of their competitive games this season, scoring 14 times and only conceding once. There was confidence in every department against a Thistle side they had beaten by the same scoreline in the League Cup last weekend. Jamie Adams and Michael Rose were pillars at the back, Robbie Crawford and Andy Murdoch used the ball intelligently in midfield and Michael Moffat and Shankland linked well up front. Over and above that, Daniel Harvie, Alan Forrest, Declan McDaid and Andy Geggan operated positively on the flanks.

Thistle had six new signings in their starting XI and, even though the new look side had a largely encouraging cup group stage, they struggled to recover from the early goals conceded. Slater had their best chance on the stroke of half-time, when Ayr goalkeeper Ross Doohan touched his long-range strike round the post.

Ayr United manager Ian McCall:

Robbie Crawford is the best kept secret in Scottish football. He's as good as Shankland in a different way. The boy is absolutely outstanding and great to watch. The Thistle defence just couldn't handle Lawrence. He's destined to go to bigger things, but he's here for this season.

Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald:

We've given them two goals. The game wasn't over, but the game-plan was out the window - we gave ourselves a mountain to climb. We only had four subs because we had a call-off with illness this morning - we had two suspensions and another injury. But, yes, we're still short and we need quality, as you saw today.

Kenny Crawford, 04-Aug-2018, bbc.com

A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL

● 19-year-old Max Melbourne makes his Thistle debut.

● Continuing the bizarre abnormality of not filling the bench - a trend which first showed in earnest last season - Thistle list only 4 substitutes on the opening day of the League season. Already in 2018-19, the club has filed teamsheets NINE places short of the allocated allowance.

● By road, the dedicated Thistle fan based in Glasgow city centre will, on average, make a round-trip of around 148 miles per game to see the Jags in 2018-19's away day League fixtures. The second tier landscape this season has changed vastly since the last time we were involved, with the Thistle fan of 2012-13 travelling just 64 miles per game back then. Historically, this season's average is second only to the traveller of 2009-10, who navigated a round-trip average of around 153 miles per game. This season's total miles travelled (2,676) sits third highest of all-time in terms of total distance covered, the record remaining with the dedicated patron of season 2015-16 who travelled 2,780 miles in support of the team. Away day League round trips of more than 2,500 miles per season are unique to Thistle fans in the 21st century, with 5 such instances. All of this is a far cry from those who followed the Jags by charabanc in our first League season of 1893-94, who rumbled along back and forth for just 30 miles per game! The historical average for the category is to make round-trips totalling 1,339 miles per season, or 78.74 miles per game. more...

● Alan Archibald's famous run of 16 First Division games unbeaten from 5 years ago is surrendered meekly, immediately upon Thistle's return to second tier action.

● Thistle slump to an opening day bottom-of-the-League position for the first time since 2010-11, when a 4-0 reverse at Stark's Park damaged similarly.

● 22nd is Thistle's lowest position in Scottish football since August 2011.

● It's now FIFTY League games without back-2-back wins for Alan Archibald's Thistle.

ongoing sequences:

● 9 second tier home games without defeat, 19th Jan 2013 to date. (Longest run since: 10 games; 14th Apr 2012 to 15th Dec 2012. Club-record: 25 games; 22nd Aug 1896 to 21st Dec 1901.)

● 15 consecutive competitive appearances for Blair Spittal, 31st Mar 2018 to date. (Longest run since: Baily Cargill - 19 games; 23rd Jan 2018 to 20th May 2018. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games; 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

● 50 games since back-to-back League wins, 11th Mar 2017 to date. (Longest run since: 71 games; 16th Apr 2013 to 14th Mar 2015. Club-record: 77 games; 2nd Nov 1912 to 5th Dec 1914.)

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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