19th Dec 2020 Partick Thistle 0 Peterhead 1 (SPFL League One - game 9)

matches:2020-21: ← 16game 1718 →

Match Information

56y, 2m, 19d			Ian McCall		Jim McInally
no changes
no changes
					Scott Brown (0-1, 30 mins)
					Steven Boyd (0-1, 30 mins)
Zak Rudden
Connor Murray (Shea Gordon, HT); Stuart Bannigan (Zak Rudden, 63 mins); James Penrice (Blair Lyons, 73 mins); Brian Graham (Rhys Breen, 90+6 mins)					Isaac Layne (Alan Cook, 56 mins); Gary MacKenzie (Lyall Cameron, 68 mins); Gary Fraser (Derek Lyle, 83 mins)
21y, 8m, 18d			Kieran Wright		Joshua Rae
24y, 9m, 5d			Ryan Williamson		Kieran Freeman
35y, 4m, 18d			Richard Foster		Jason Brown
26y, 8m, 9d			Darren Brownlie		Gary MacKenzie
21y, 2m, 11d			Mouhamed Niang		Kyle Bailey
21y, 11m, 27d			James Penrice		Ryan Conroy former Jag
28y, 3m, 2d			Stuart Bannigan		Simon Ferry
27y, 10m, 26d			Ross Docherty		Scott Brown
33y, 0m, 26d			Brian Graham		Gary Fraser former Jag
23y, 7m, 25d			Connor Murray		Isaac Layne
33y, 10m, 12d			Joe Cardle		Steven Boyd
27y, 1m, 18d
18y, 11m, 2d			Luke Scullion		Lenny Wilson
20y, 10m, 13d			Zak Rudden		Alan Cook
24y, 2m, 26d			Blair Lyons		Andy McCarthy former Jag
22y, 7m, 3d			Shea Gordon		Derryn Kesson
20y, 8m, 13d			Rhys Breen		Lyall Cameron
22y, 8m, 24d			Ciaran McKenna		Hashim Bakar
19y, 0m, 14d			Charlie Reilly		Derek Lyle former Jag
17y, 6m, 13d			Billy Owens
18y, 1m, 22d			James Lyon

notes

Both sides generally in playing order. Peterhead filled only 7 of their 9 allocated bench slots. Played closed-doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Match Report

TTA report

Peterhead scored with a rare attempt on target with a decent strike (30) after unchanged Thistle had had several attempts to clear. Despite lots of possession, Thistle's inability to create a threat in the final third allowed Peterhead to defend comfortably and see the game out. Too many players looked off the pace/off form.

Media report

19-Dec-2020, peterheadfc.org

Thistle’s Joe Cardle created the game’s first opening on 11 minutes when he picked up the ball in the Blue Toon half and darted forward however his parting shot cleared the bar. Joshua Rae was called into action on 14 minutes when Ryan Williamson let fly from 18 yards with the Peterhead shot-stopper making a fine save. Rae saved again a minute later when Cardle tried his luck again with his shot taking a deflection on its way towards the visitors’ goal. Peterhead made the most of Rae being alert by taking the lead on 30 minutes. Pressure from Jim McInally’s side allowed Steven Boyd to get space on the right and he picked out skipper Scott Brown who found the net for the second week running. Thistle were stung into retaliation and Graham was just inches away from connecting with a cross from James Penrice and sending a header towards Peterhead’s goal. Just before the break the Balmoor men almost doubled their lead when home goalkeeper Kieran Wright failed to gather a Gary Fraser cross and the ball dropped to Gary MacKenzie however the big defender could not force it home.

A minute into the second half and Brown tried his luck again but his shot curled wide of goal. Just after the hour mark Alan Cook, who had just replaced Isaac Layne had a glimpse of goal however his shot was easily dealt with by Wright. With ten minutes to go substitute Lyall Cameron darted into the home side’s penalty box and picked out Cook however Mouhamed Niang blocked his shot. Thistle pushed into Peterhead's box in the closing stages and Gordon looked to have nodded in an equaliser however Ferry popped up to clear at the expense of a corner. From the flag kick Graham had a chance however he headed wide with appeals for a penalty for a handball by a visiting defender were ignored by referee Kevin Graham. Striker Graham was injured shortly afterwards and after he had received treatment before being substituted Peterhead saw things out for a fine win.

Reaction

Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall (speaking to Jagzone):

I thought for the first half an hour of the game we played pretty well and they were never in our half but we’re watching the same movie again, like the home game against Dumbarton. It was a scrappy goal to give away and it’s frustrating to concede from a situation where we had the ball. We give it away in our own half and then have a couple of opportunities to get a tackle in but don’t clear it and get punished for that with a really good finish from their lad. To be honest, after their goal I don’t think we played well. We still created some chances but it was just a poor, poor result for us. For the amount of possession that we had we should have made a lot more chances and tested their goalkeeper a lot more. There’s no getting away from it; it’s a really bad result and we need to recover from it straight away.

Peterhead manager Jim McInally (speaking to club website):

Joshua Rae had a great couple of saves before we scored a really good goal. Steven Boyd deserves great credit as he could have scored himself, however he looked up and saw that Scott was in a better position than him and passed. Scott produced another excellent finish and we saw things out to the break quite comfortably. In the second half Thistle had a lot of possession and territory however we were good on the counter-attack and we should have picked them off that way. Alan Cook, Lyall Cameron and Steven all had chances however we could not get the second. When that happens the home side will increase the pressure in the final minutes and that is what happened. There were a few dangerous situations however Joshua did not have a lot to do.

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Sunday Post, 20th December, 2020

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Stats Watch

ON COURSE FOR RECORD GOALS DROUGHT

● 20-year-old Rhys Breen plays his last game for Thistle.

● After 5 attempts, Thistle have still never won a League game against Peterhead. At Firhill, it's played 3, lost 3.

● With an appalling goals-for ratio of just 0.92 per game (12 in 13), the class of 2020-21 remain on course to return the club's lowest figure of all-time.

ongoing sequences:

● 43 consecutive competitive appearances for James Penrice, 7th Sep 2019 to date. (Longest run since: James Penrice - 50 games, 14th Jul 2018 to 20th Jul 2019. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

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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