2nd Oct 2021 Partick Thistle 4 Ayr United 0 (SPFL Championship - game 8)

matches:2021-22: ← 15game 1617 →

57y, 0m, 2d	Ian McCall	Jim Duffy former Jag

Tunji Akinola; Zak Rudden
Ciaran McKenna; Kyle Turner

Zak Rudden (1-0, 34 mins); Cammy Smith (2-0, 45 mins); ‎Sean McGinty (3-0, og 72 mins)‎; Brian Graham (4-0, 85‎ mins)
Scott Tiffoney (1-0, 34 mins); Brian Graham (2-0, 45 mins); Scott Tiffoney (3-0, 72 mins)‎; Stuart Bannigan (4-0, 85‎ mins)		‎
Ross Docherty; Lewis Mayo		Tomi Adeloye; Aaron Muirhead

Cammy Smith (Jake Hastie, 75 mins); Zak Rudden (Connor Murray, 78 mins); Ross Docherty (Kyle Turner, 81 mins)		Markus Fjørtoft (James Maxwell‎, 54 mins); Joe Chalmers (Cameron Salkeld, 70 mins); Michael Moffat (Jonathan Afolabi, 70 mins)

24y, 0m, 26d	Jamie Sneddon	Charlie Albinson
36y, 2m, 1d	Richard Foster	Markus Fjørtoft
28y, 8m, 7d	Kevin Holt	Patrick Reading
21y, 6m, 13d	Lewis Mayo	Sean McGinty former Jag
22y, 10m, 11d	Tunji Akinola	Jack Baird
29y, 0m, 15d	Stuart Bannigan	Aaron Muirhead former Jag
28y, 8m, 9d	Ross Docherty	Andy Murdoch
26y, 1m, 8d	Cammy Smith	Nick McAllister
33y, 10m, 9d	Brian Graham	Tomi Adeloye future Jag
21y, 7m, 26d	Zak Rudden	Michael Moffat
23y, 1m, 6d	Scott Tiffoney	Joe Chalmers

26y, 10m, 20d

18y, 6m, 27d	Mason McCready	Aidan McAdams
23y, 10m, 22d	Kyle Turner	Cameron Salkeld
23y, 4m, 16d	Shea Gordon	James Maxwell‎
24y, 5m, 8d	Connor Murray	Jonathan Afolabi
23y, 6m, 7d	Ciaran McKenna	Finn Ecrepont
22y, 7m, 4d	Ross MacIver
22y, 6m, 14d	Jake Hastie

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Ayr United filled only 5 of their 7 allocated bench slots.
Thistle's third goal threw up a fair degree of confusion, with Zak Rudden widely credited as scorer. However, as our special video excerpt shows, Rudden never touched the ball. It came off the foot of United's Sean McGinty and we duly credit the own goal. With regards to the assist, Brian Graham may have got a slight touch with his head, but the video evidence is inconclusive and, since there's no visible change in the ball's trajectory, we stick with Scott Tiffoney, in line with the majority consensus.

TTA report

It was a merited, comfortable win once Thistle found their rhythm. Tiffoney set up Rudden for a header (34) then Graham's delightful chip saw Smith opening his JAG's account from close in (45). A freakish bouncing shot off Ex-JAG McGinty went in over the keeper (72) and Graham's lovely finish in the bottom corner (85) sealed things.

Media report

Lewis Anderson, 02-Oct-2021, Glasgow World

Partick Thistle end three-match winless run in emphatic style as they rout Ayr United 4-0 on day of celebration at Firhill

The Jags remain in fifth place in the Scottish Championship but moved within two points of the play-off spots. On a day when Partick Thistle unveiled a mural of club legend Davie McParland, the Jags produced a performance their 1971 Scottish League Cup-winning manager would certainly have been proud of. Ian McCall’s side ended a run of three straight Championship defeats in emphatic style as they routed Ayr United 4-0 at Firhill, courtesy of a brace from Zak Rudden and further goals from Cammy Smith and Brian Graham.

Thistle chairwoman Jacqui Low joined members of McParland’s family outside the ground prior to kick-off to reveal a fitting tribute of their former player and manager. The match took a while to kick into gear but eventually sprung to life in the 33rd minute when Scott Tiffoney’s dangerous delivery from the left was met by former Rangers striker Zak Rudden, who steered a header into the bottom corner of the net. The Jags doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time as Brian Graham received the ball on the by-line before clipping a delightful cross over to Cammy Smith, who guided a front-post header past stranded Ayr keeper Charlie Albinson to mark his first goal for the club.

Thistle continued from where they left of at the start of the second half with the influential Tiffoney’s thunderous drive from 20-yards forcing Albinson to tip the ball behind for a corner. The Tiffoney-Rudden combination once again linked up to great effect with 20 minutes remaining as the latter killed any hopes of an Ayr comeback, flicking Tiffoney’s cross at the back-post over the poorly positioned Albinson into the net. The visitors’ misery was compounded in the 84th minute when Graham stepped inside before curling an effort from the edge of the box past the outstretched keeper to notch his ninth goal in 13 games.

Reaction

It was exactly the type of response Ian McCall was looking for from his players after a disappointing run which saw them concede eight goals during the month of September. Speaking to Glasgow World, he said:

It was a really good, clinical performance. I thought we deserved our two-goal lead in the first half, but our second half performance was excellent. We passed the ball really well throughout and it was built from (Ross) Docherty and (Stuart) Bannigan, who I thought were outstanding. I thought the balance of the team was really good, we defended well, and it was pleasing to get a clean sheet. We fully merited the end score line. I think that’s roughly 25 games Zak and Brian have played up front together, and they’ve scored around 30 goals now. It was my decision to leave Zak out the team last weekend, but after his display today I think we’ll stick with him now! We haven’t been far away over the past few games. I said to the players if they want to get into the play-off at the very least they need to win five games every quarter and that’s us got four now. The league is going to tighten up, there’s no doubt about it.

It was not the start new Ayr United boss Jim Duffy was looking for, following his appointment earlier this week, as they dropped to seventh place in the table. Speaking to the Glasgow Times he said:

We were very poor and Thistle ran out worthy winners. We played okay for the first half an hour but once the first goal went in, we fell really flat and allowed them to dictate the game.

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