The Thistle Archive

Blair McNally, 26-Dec-2020, nottheoldfirm.com

Falkirk and Partick Thistle played out a 0-0 draw in their crucial League One battle, the Jags ending the game with 10 men. The Bairns were aiming to further their six-point lead at the League One summit. Second placed Thistle came into this game knowing it was a vital three points to gain if they wanted to strengthen their League One title bid.

The first chance of the match came shortly after proceedings begun as Callumn Morrison crossed a dangerous ball into the box, however, Morgaro Gomis failed to connect properly, heading wide with a diving header. Falkirk continued to threaten the Thistle goal as the Jags held strong. The high winds and strong rain meant very little of ground ball was played, causing a game of hoofball between both sides. Falkirk were nearly ahead after 26 minutes, Thistle keeper Kieran Wright misjudging a through ball. The recovering Darren Brownlie was there to make sure the clean sheet stayed intact with an excellent block, preventing the on rushing Morrison. Ten minutes before half-time, the game sparked into life, as Thistle came inches away from taking the lead. A beautiful exchange across the box found stand-in right-back Ciaran McKenna on the right side of the goal. He found former Falkirk man Zak Rudden, who crashed a shot up and off the bar. Just a matter of minutes later Rudden had an even better chance, this time in a one-on-one situation. He opened up his body and curled a lovely shot into the bottom right corner. Much to the frustration of Ian McCall, his shot this time bounced off the post.

Rudden would soon frustrate his boss more. After a missed opportunity, Rudden turned and proceeded to shout something at the referee. This instigated a straight red card from Duncan Williams, leaving Thistle with a mountain to climb. After the red card, the game opened up with the home team causing problems, looking to take advantage of the extra man on the park. There was to be little to no action for the remainder of the match as the Boxing day crunch match failed to live up to expectation.

Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall, via ptfc.co.uk

I thought the team were brilliant and we created the best chances of the game. We hit the bar through Shea Gordon and then Zak Rudden hits the inside of the post and you can’t come much closer than that. We had other half chances too and looked on top to start the second half. Obviously, the red card changes things completely and we had to defend a lot more but even with that we looked dangerous on the counter and could have done better with some of the openings that were there at times.”“They threw a few attacking players on towards the end and were really pushing for the win but our guys stood up to that really well. Right across the back four we performed excellently and, to be honest, there weren’t many nervy moments after the red for us. That’s one goal conceded in seven games which is a fantastic record and a testament to the work those guys at the back have done. I have to give a word to Ciaran McKenna today as well because coming back from injury to fill in at right-back he was very solid and a big part of that clean sheet.

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7 REDS IN A ROW FOR THISTLE

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