The Thistle Archive

Blair McNally, 31-Mar-2021, nottheoldfirm.com

Partick Thistle drew 2-2 with Forfar Athletic as they missed the chance to make ground on League One leaders Falkirk. Firhill manager Ian McCall made six Thistle changes to the team that beat Airdrieonians on Saturday but they found themselves trailing less than two minutes in. Grant Anderson picked out Scott Fenwick from the left, producing an impressive volley to put Forfar 1-0 in front. To Thistle’s frustration, the visitors continued to hold tight, limiting the chances of a Jags equaliser. Steven Bell was first to come close, glancing a strong header onto the bar from a looping Joe Cardle corner. Connor Murray then found the ball wide on the left. Cutting in, he unleashed a definite contender for Goal of the Season, striking the inside of the upright and in, continuing his form of late and levelling the score. Thistle dominated after the goal but Forfar were next to have the ball in the net. A shot from the edge of the box landed into the path of the Loons forward Fenwick, leaving him with the simple task to deflect home. The away side’s pressure paid off as they found themselves in the lead again before half-time.

Scott Shepherd had the chance to double Forfar’s lead just five minutes after the break. Beating substitute Darren Brownlie in a foot-race, the striker was denied by the foot of a stretching Jamie Sneddon. This would come back to bite the striker as Thistle’s hard work soon had them level again. A cross from Ryan Williamson found Brian Graham free in the middle of the box, allowing him to finish calmly. The match continued to swing from end to end, the best chance coming for the visitors five minutes from time. Callum Moore found the ball on the edge of the box after a fast break, leaving him with plenty of space for a pop at goal. Forfar’s Dundee loanee failed to capitalise on the slack Thistle defending, crashing his effort off the underside of the bar. Thistle’s continued pressure failed to pay dividends as they were unable to take advantage of numerous chances at the end as Forfar held on to take a well-deserved point. McCall’s are left to ponder what could have been after league leaders Falkirk drew at home with Dumbarton, keeping Thistle eight points off the top. Here are three things we learned:

Familiar feeling. Slow starts have sometimes occurred for Partick Thistle this season, continuing in this game after falling behind within two minutes to the part-time visitors. Numerous chances on either side of half-time gave Thistle the opportunity to snatch all three points as Scott Tiffoney and James Penrice both came very close at the end.

Murray a new man. Murray’s impressive performances of late with three goals in three games has sparked the Thistle attack, this goal the pick of the bunch. Confidence seems to be the factor in the Thistle frontline as form looks to be picking up, however, it was dropped points at home again.

Forfar promising. The Loons’ display showed no signs of a bottom of the table side as Forfar brought the game to the Jags, unfortunate to take all three points in the end. Stuart Malcolm’s side can use this performance as evidence that they have the firepower to be fighting further up the table.

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

Two of our best players over the last few games picked up knocks at the weekend and we felt it wasn’t worth risking them and potentially having them out for longer, especially with the tight run of fixtures between now and the end of the season. Zak Rudden and Ross MacIver did well last week against Cowdenbeath and that is a partnership we are keen to keep working on and improving to offer a different threat to our team. Ross Docherty needs minutes and there isn’t any other way to give them to him than throwing him into the team. The world we live in isn’t one where we can arrange two or three bounce games to bring him back up to speed. To be honest, we just weren’t good enough today and didn’t deserve to win the game. You’ve got to credit Forfar, they came out and caused us a lot of problems. It was a really open game, which went from end to end but we were inviting pressure onto ourselves and it was nowhere near what we expect from the players. We can’t allow this to become a habit because it does give us a lot of work to do. On Saturday, we were able to fight back and win convincingly in the end but if you keep conceding early goals then it is going to cost you and tonight we saw that.

SIX CHANGES GAMBLE FAILS

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