The Thistle Archive

Andrew Southwick, 03-Apr-2021, bbc.com

Nicky Clark's added-time goal averted a Scottish Cup shock for Dundee United at home to League 1 Partick Thistle. The Scottish Premiership side had to fight back after going behind following a dominant first-half from Thistle that included Scott Tiffoney heading them in front. Thistle had other chances to increase the lead, but two defensive errors from Mouhamed Niang was their undoing. Lawrence Shankland equalised before Clark knocked in a last-gasp winner. Micky Mellon's side will find out their fourth-round opponents in Sunday's draw.

It was Thistle who dominated from the start. Tiffoney shot past and Shea Gordon had a strong shout for a penalty when goalkeeper Deniz Mehmet raced from goal and halted his progress. And their pressure paid off when they took advantage of dreadful defending to take the lead. Ciaran McKenna's throw in met the head of two United defenders, who simply diverted it into the path of Tiffoney, who had an easy header in front of goal. Headers from Calum Butcher and Adrian Sporle didn't cause too many problems for visiting goalkeeper Kieran Wright, and Ian McCall's side had two huge chances to double their lead before the break. Gordon's cut-back laid the ball on a plate for Brian Graham, but he slid his effort the wrong side of the post from the edge of the six-yard box. Then a free-kick was allowed to drift through the United defence and Gordon was on to it, but was always stretching and couldn't direct the ball on target.

United had been very much second best, but they leapt out of the traps after the break. Shankland cut inside Niang and had a shot blocked, then Marc McNulty's effort on the rebound deflected over. Then Shankland broke free to get onto McNulty's through ball but goalkeeper Wright got a leg to it. From Ian Harkes' corner, McNulty's shot on the turn was cleared on the line by Stuart Bannigan, who then blocked Mark Reynolds on the rebound. United appealed that the ball was over the line but it was inconclusive. Once Partick had withstood the brief onslaught they began to look comfortable, but they allowed United to level far too easily. Niang put his foot on the ball inside the box, but mis-controlled it then lost his balance, and Shankland pounced. And Sengalese defender Niang was at fault again when he allowed Clark to push him off the ball all too easily, allowing the United man to take the ball past him and easily finish to break Thistle hearts.

Dundee United manager Micky Mellon:

We played at a good tempo but just needed a bit more quality. But we showed the resilience you need to win a cup tie.

Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall:

At half-time we should have been leading two, three, maybe even four goals. And we felt we had a really good shout for a penalty, it looked like stonewall. At half-time we were a bit gutted because it was only 1-0 because it should have been over.

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