The Thistle Archive

Andy McGilvray, 16-Jul-2021, Daily Record

Graham Alexander's side prepared for their Euro adventure with a comfortable win over Thistle. Joe Efford was Motherwell's hero as they prepared for their Europa Conference League qualifier with a routine friendly win over Partick Thistle at Firhill. The Championship side started well and looked lively, but Motherwell quickly took a grip of the game and carved some decent chances in the first half that they probably should have taken. That said, it took them until the 59th minute before Efford's strike made the breakthrough, and it came from an error in Thistle's defence, rather than magic created by the Premiership side. They will undoubtedly face a tougher test when Sligo Rovers visit Fir Park on Thursday evening in the second qualifying round.

Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall made seven changes to the side that beat Kilmarnock 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the Premier Sports Cup on Wednesday. Goalkeeper Jamie Sneddon, Darren Brownlie, Tunji Akinola, Cole McKinnon, Ben Stanway, Aidan Fitzpatrick and Tony Weston replaced David Mitchell (GK), Aaron Muirhead, Kevin Holt, Ross Docherty, Kyle Turner, Cammy Smith and Brian Graham. Motherwell boss Graham Alexander handed starts to new signings Blair Spittal and Joe Morris. Trialist goalkeeper Aston Oxborough, previously with Norwich City, was on the bench. A major red flag for Motherwell fans was the omission of striker Kevin van Veen, who has been heavily linked with a move back to the Netherlands.

The first half wasn't much to write home about and was played very much like the friendly it was, but Motherwell had some decent efforts, and Joe Efford had a header off the post. Thistle did a lot of the early running, but without forcing Liam Kelly into a save. It took a while for the game to get going and Thistle looked the more likely in the opening stages. Their best chance came in 13 minutes when a Fitzpatrick corner from the right was headed past the near post corner by Stuart Bannigan. At the other end, Callum Slattery sent a drive past the right post from distance in 16 minutes. Motherwell created a decent chance in 22 minutes when Joe Efford was sent down the left and he blazed in a low cross that was just too far ahead of Connor Shields, sliding in. Two minutes later Blair Spittal and Efford combined to set up new signing Joe Morris, but he could only find the left side-netting. The visitors nearly took the lead in bizarre circumstances in 31 minutes when Spittal pounced on a slack pass-back, and his shot looked to be heading wide, but was then nearly carried over his own line by a Thistle defender, who halted it in time. From a free kick wide on the right, Motherwell went close again when Efford's header hit the left post.

Motherwell looked more lively in the second half, and got their goal, but didn't really push themselves too hard, perhaps with an eye on Thursday's tie. They went close again in 49 minutes when Spittal's free kick from the left was headed just over by Jake Carroll at the near post. Spittal tried his luck with a daisy-cutter in 52 minutes, but sub keeper David Mitchell took it at the second attempt. There was little surprise when Motherwell took the lead in 59 minutes, and even less shock that Efford got them off the mark when he pounced on a botched clearance that left him with just Mitchell to beat, and the striker confidently slotted low into the net. Motherwell tried to double their lead in 77 minutes when Spittal's cross from the left was flicked over the bar by Shields.

ptfc.co.uk

It was a bit stop-start, took us a bit of time to get into the game, getting an injury to Stuart didn't help. But it was a great workout in terms of getting the guys the minutes that they needed - young Cole and Tony and the other young boys, it was great for them. Big Daz got 90 minutes which was excellent. It was fantastic for him as he's been out for such a long time. Won every header bar the last 5 minutes when he was probably a wee bit fatigued. It'll do him the world of good.

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FIRHILL DROUGHT CONTINUES

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