The Thistle Archive

Ewan Smith, 04-May-2021, The Courier

Montrose’s task on the night was far from simple. They needed a favour from Airdrieonians against Falkirk if the play-off dream was to come true. First things first, the Angus side had to do their job on the park. Partick have been rampant on their charge towards the League One title – winning six out of their last seven games and hammering both Montrose and Falkirk 5-0 in the process. The Glasgow side will lift the trophy in a closed-doors celebration at Firhill on Wednesday with manager Ian McCall revealing Jags have banned both the SPFL and SFA from attendance. They were given customary guard of honour by Montrose players as they walked out and the hosts were hoping Jags were still in party mode.

They almost got off to the perfect start as wing-back Cammy Ballantyne’s thunderous 20 yard strike forced Jags keeper Kieran Wright into a save. At the other end, the hosts survived a scare as Blair Lyons broke clear and tried to round Allan Fleming, only for the Montrose keeper to snatch the ball away with his right hand. The Links Park men took the lead in 18 minutes as Rennie’s low 25 yard effort squirmed through Wright’s hands to cross the line. They almost added a second moments later as Craig Johnston fired over from 15 yards. However, the visitors drew level on 25 minutes despite a stunning double block by Fleming. Fleming made point-blank stops from Charlie Reilly and MacIver before the latter blasted in a second rebound from six yards to make it 1-1. At that point the champions were expected to kick into gear and underline their status as the league’s top side but Montrose had other ideas. Stewart Petrie’s men were determined to make a fist of it and deservedly regained their lead on 36 minutes as McLean coolly drilled beyond Wright from ten yards.

Montrose had kept their end of the bargain at half-time and emerged for the second period determined to see it through while praying for an Airdrieonians win over Bairns. And they started in determined fashion with McLean heading a long Lewis Milne throw just wide. But they found themselves pegged back to 2-2 just after the hour mark as sub James Lyon went on a mazy run before pulling the ball back for Cardle to drill home. Cardle almost put Partick ahead on 70 minutes as he cut in from the left flank to flash a drive inches wide of Fleming’s left post. Fleming was again the hero for Montrose as he turned MacIver’s 20 yard strike over. Jags’ sub Connor Murray twice came close with late efforts as he was blocked by Fleming for the first before cracking an audacious 20 yard effort off the inside of the post. But as the clock ticked down Montrose regained the lead for a third time with McLean’s superb cross met by Ballantyne to leave the hosts praying for a late Airdrieonians goal. Their wish was granted – twice – as a late, late show by Airdrieonians sealed a 2-0 win over Falkirk to send Montrose into a play-off showdown with Morton.

Montrose manager Stewart Petrie will call on his Arbroath counterpart Dick Campbell’s support in their bid to beat Morton on Saturday – after the Angus side secured a last-gasp spot in the Championship play-offs. Petrie, who worked under Campbell as a player at Dunfermline, believes Arbroath’s recent clash with Morton can give him an insight into Saturday’s opponents:

We will be massive underdogs but I still believe we can go and give a really good account of ourselves and see where we end up. It’s an amazing feeling to be in the play-offs. But we will somehow need to let it sink in and catch some sleep before we go again on Saturday. This performance typifies our ‘never-say-die’ attitude and I’m delighted for everyone at the club that we have more games to look forward to. We did our homework on Morton – just in case – and I’ll be on the phone to ‘the gaffer’ Dick Campbell for more info. But ultimately it will now be down to what we can do. We will be massive underdogs but I still believe we can go and give a really good account of ourselves and see where we end up.

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

I was actually pleased with that to be honest. I think at 2-2 we were the team who looked like scoring; hitting the post and the bar and then Connor Murray should have scored with two good chances to do that. When we got Zak Rudden and Scott Tiffoney on alongside James Penrice we felt like there was a lot of pace up trop and we did create some dangerous moments. Ultimately, it’s never nice to lose a game but our hard work had already been done. We obviously missed the guys who were out but they simply couldn’t have played because of the various knocks they’ve been dealing with so we gave it our all and now we wish Montrose the best of luck in the play-offs. There was a lot to like from James [Lyon] and I think he went out there and showed why he’s so highly rated at the club. He showed great composure to pick Joe out for the second equaliser and we were absolutely delighted to be able to give him 45 minutes to go and play. I genuinely believe James has what it takes to make the breakthrough in the Championship next season, he’s a wonderful footballer. He’s got heaps of potential and he’s tied up here so we’re looking forward to seeing more of him.

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MONTROSE BREAK THEIR HOODOO

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