25th Oct 2022 Ayr United 4 Partick Thistle 2 (SPFL Championship - game 12)

matches:2022-23: ← 21game 2223 →

Match Information

			Lee Bullen		Ian McCall			58y, 0m, 25d
					David Mitchell; Tunji Akinola; Darren Brownlie; Anton Dowds
					Jamie Sneddon; Cole McKinnon; Steven Lawless; Scott Tiffoney
Logan Chalmers (0-1, 16 mins); Darren Brownlie (1-2, og 39 mins); Josh Mullin (2-3, 55 mins); Mark McKenzie (2-4, 90‎+‎1 mins)‎					Lee Hodson (1-1, 18‎ mins); Anton Dowds (2-2, 51 mins)
Brad Young (0-1, 16 mins); Logan Chalmers (1-2, og 39 mins); Andy Murdoch (2-3, 55 mins); Sam Ashford (2-4, 90‎+‎1 mins)‎					Jack McMillan (1-1, 18‎ mins); Jack McMillan (2-2, 51 mins)
Brad Young; Sam Ashford; Charlie Albinson
Patrick Reading (Sean McGinty, 57 mins); Logan Chalmers (Sam Ashford, 69 mins); Dipo Akinyemi (Mark McKenzie, 80 mins)					Brian Graham (Danny Mullen, 57 mins); Stuart Bannigan (Cole McKinnon, 76 mins); Darren Brownlie (Tony Weston, 83 mins); Kyle Turner (Aidan Fitzpatrick, 83 mins)
			Charlie Albinson		David Mitchell			32y, 6m, 21d
			Jordan Houston		Jack McMillan			24y, 10m, 7d
			Patrick Reading		Harry Milne			25y, 11m, 26d
			Frankie Musonda		Tunji Akinola			23y, 11m, 4d
			Alex Kirk		Aaron Muirhead			32y, 1m, 25d
			Andy Murdoch		Darren Brownlie			28y, 6m, 15d
			Ben Dempsey		Stuart Bannigan			30y, 1m, 8d
			Josh Mullin		Lee Hodson			31y, 0m, 23d
			Dipo Akinyemi		Brian Graham			34y, 11m, 2d
			future Jag Logan Chalmers		Anton Dowds			25y, 11m, 6d
			Brad Young		Kyle Turner			24y, 11m, 15d
								28y, 7m, 19d
			Aidan McAdams		Jamie Sneddon			25y, 1m, 19d
			Daire O'Connor		Cammy Smith			27y, 2m, 1d
			Mark McKenzie		Cole McKinnon			19y, 8m, 26d
			Jayden Mitchell-Lawson		Tony Weston			19y, 1m, 8d
			Sam Ashford		Danny Mullen			27y, 7m, 24d
			former Jag Sean McGinty		Aidan Fitzpatrick			21y, 7m, 5d
			David Bangala		Ben Stanway			18y, 1m, 5d
			Nick McAllister		Zander MacKenzie			17y, 1m, 27d
			Paul Smith

notes

Both sides generally in playing order. Thistle filled 8 of their 9 allocated bench slots. Originally scheduled for Saturday, 10th September, 2022, but postponed due to the death of the Queen. Ayr United's opener was universally credited to Logan Chalmers (the referee report concurs), although it may have been an own goal by Tunji Akinola. Whilst it looks like an o.g. to us, we go with the flow (Chalmers) as the video evidence that we've seen is inconclusive. Thistle's opener was universally credited to Lee Hodson (the referee report concurs) but may have been re-directed into the net by an Ayr defender. Again, the video evidence is inconclusive, so we stick with Hodson. Thistle's second goal is credited to Brian Graham by the often-unreliable OPTA network, with Anton Dowds being awarded the assist. This bears no relation to the reality; Jack McMillan's header from the back post was scrambled over the line in a 3-man jostle which included Anton Dowds and 2 Ayr defenders. From the video evidence we've seen it's not clear who got the final touch but, in line with the referee report and ptfc.co.uk, we credit Anton Dowds with the goal. McMillan with the assist falls naturally as a result of this.

Match Report

TTA report

A clearance hit off the scorer of Ayr's 1st goal but Hodson poked home an equaliser (18). A diving header OG by Brownlie put Ayr ahead at half-time. Dowds scored from close in (51) but 4 minutes later Ayr went ahead again. Thistle went all out but they were caught out at the back (90+1). Poor defending and wasted chances. Down to 3rd.

Media report

25-Oct-2022, ptfc.co.uk

The cinch Championship season continued for Partick Thistle this evening as they travelled to Somerset Park to play their rearranged game against Ayr United. Thistle went into the game off the back of two heavy defeats at the hands of Aberdeen and more recently Queen’s Park who beat the Jags 4-0 at Firhill three days before the trip to Ayrshire. As such, Ian McCall made four changes to his team as David Mitchell, Darren Brownlie, Tunji Akinola and Anton Dowds all came in for Jamie Sneddon, Cole McKinnon, Steven Lawless and Scott Tiffoney with the latter two dropping out of the squad altogether. Kevin Holt and Ross Docherty were unavailable through injury again.

There was almost a dream start for Thistle as they looked to bounce back from the weekend’s disappointment. The ball fell to Harry Milne in the box and the number three struck the ball on the swivel. Charlie Albinson got down well to turn the shot away and then Anton Dowds poked the loose ball wide. The Jags had further half-chances in the opening 15 minutes with Stuart Bannigan sidefooting a shot narrowly wide from distance before Brian Graham fired wide of the near post after some good link-up with strike partner Dowds. Then, at the other end, Ayr had their first sight of goal. A low cross from Jordan Houston skipped across to Logan Chalmers who tried a shot on goal. The effort took a deflection and would have found the bottom corner had it not been for the sharp reactions of David Mitchell who turned it wide. Just a moment later Thistle had their fourth significant opportunity of the game. Kyle Turner picked out Tunji Akinola from a corner with the defender finding wide open space in the Ayr box. He got clean enough contact on the header but glanced it a yard or so wide of the goal.

After such a lively start, it was then a considerable sucker punch when the Honest Men took the lead on 16 minutes. The ball was worked out the Ayr right and Josh Mullin bent a powerful ball low across the box. Tunji Akinola was there first but his clearance ricoheted off of Logan Chalmers and into the Thistle net. There was an instantaneous reaction from the away side and they were back level within two minute. A diagonal ball towards Jack McMillan was misjudged by Patrick Reading and that allowed the wing-back to drive forward. He slipped a pass through to Lee Hodson who drove a shot towards goal and despite the best efforts of the players on the line, the ball trickled into the net. The game then went into a bit of a lull after an all-action first 20 minutes, There were few chances to talk about and ultimately when the next goal of the game arrived, it wasn’t really a chance at all. A cross from the left by Logan Chalmers was met by Darren Brownlie and the defender’s diving header flew into the top corner of David Mitchell’s goal. An instant response almost materialised again for the Maryhill men as a corner fell to Brian Graham from a sliced clearance but the striker’s powerful shot was cleared instinctively by an Ayr defender in the six-yard box.

Coming out for the second half Thistle wouldn’t have to wait too long to get their second leveller and it was a markedly scrappy goal which restored parity. A Harry Milne cross found Jack McMillan at the back post and the defender headed back into the goalmouth area. As it dropped, Anton Dowds and two Ayr defenders threw themselves at it with the end result being a goal for the away side and Dowds wheeling away in celebration. Unfortunately for the visitors, the score didn’t stay level for long as Lee Bullen’s side hit the front for a third time. A cross from the right wasn’t cleared properly and fell to Andy Murdoch who had his back to goal. The Ayr skipper laid the ball off to Josh Mullin who drilled a low shot into the far bottom corner to make it 3-2. Thistle made changes and pushed for a third equaliser but were regularly foiled by the home side’s resolute defending. A Tony Weston cross fell the way of Anton Dowds but the number 10’s shot was saved well by Albinson shortly before a Cole McKinnon shot was cleared off the line by ex-Jag Sean McGinty. In the end, the game did have a sixth goal but it came for Ayr. The ball was delivered from the right and controlled well by Sam Ashford to tee up Mark McKenzie. The 22-year old took it on first time and picked out the bottom corner and sealed the points for the hosts. With that, Ayr climb to the top of the Championship table one point above third placed Thistle.

Reaction

Thistle manager Ian McCall (speaking to Jagzone):

I saw a Thistle team who gave everything but we weren't good enough in both boxes. We've had 8 really good scoring opportunities and haven't taken them and a couple of the goals we lost were laughable. The fourth one, well we had went 4-2-4 and it kinda worked because Anton should have scored. I don't think it's a game we deserved to get beat in but we did and we've got to take that onboard. We've got to tighten up and the forward players have got to take pressure off by putting the ball in the net.

Scrapbook

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The Sun, 26th October, 2022

Video Highlights

(credit: Saida Wiseman )

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Stats Watch

LEAKING GOALS

● For the first time since August 1964, Thistle concede 4 or more goals in 3 consecutive competitive games. More than 126 years have passed since we've seen such a thing in a season outwith the top-flight. Brutal.

● Lee Hodson scores his only goal for Thistle.

● Thistle's League clean-sheet ratio of 8.3% (1 in 12) is on-course to be one of the very worst seasons of all-time in that category, although season 2019-20 (1 in 27) will take some beating.

ongoing sequences:

● 8 competitive games without a clean-sheet; 17th Sep 2022 to date. (Longest run since: 13 games; 26th Nov 2019 to 14th Feb 2020. Club-record: 45 games; 27th May 1893 to 18th May 1895.)

● 19 consecutive competitive appearances for Jack McMillan, 9th Jul 2022 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Kevin Holt - 26 games, 1st Mar 2022 to 17th Sep 2022. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

Stats Watch adheres to our stated definitions of League, League Max, Major Competitive, Competitive or All Games. Where there is no written qualification, you should presume that the Stat in question is compiled from the All Games criteria.

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