The Thistle Archive

Paul Thomson, 22-Apr-2023, Daily Record

Hamilton Accies' relegation fears have deepened after a dramatic draw at home to Partick Thistle ensured a play-off for their Championship survival is now their only real hope of staying up. Brian Graham saw his 28th minute opener cancelled out by Dan O'Reilly in the first half, but Accies looked to have won it with O'Reilly netting again in the 90th minute. However, Steven Lawless found a last-gasp leveller for Thistle and that, coupled with bottom side Cove beating eighth-place Arbroath, means only goal difference has Accies in the play-off spot having played a game more than the Aberdeenshire outfit. Eighth-place is mathematically possible for Accies but it would require at least a 16-goal turnaround due to Arbroath's vastly superior goal difference. John Rankin's side, who have won just seven games from 35 this term, now have to hope league leaders Dundee do them a favour on Friday night when they host Cove, which would maintain their advantage and put their destiny in their own hands going into the final day on May 5. Accies made two changes from the midweek defeat to Inverness as Dario Zanatta and Andy Winter came in at the expense of John-Pierre Tiehi and Tom Sparrow. There was no sign of fan favourite Lucas de Bolle as the Newcastle United loanee was absent from the squad entirely.

Nutmegs by Connor Smith and then Dario Zanatta on the near side created Hamilton's first opening of the match in four minutes, with Zanatta finding the run of Reghan Tumilty down the left. He burst into the box and almost found Benny Ashley-Seal in the six-yard box but some last-ditch defending from Darren Brownlie cut out the cross at the vital moment. Moments later, the visitors had a glorious chance when Kyle Turner's cross fell perfectly for Brian Grahm to hit on the volley 12 yards out, but Accies keeper Ryan Fulton was equal to it amid a lively start to proceedings. Accies survived another scare in 10 minutes when Brownlie's header at the back post came off the woodwork and the hosts breathed a sigh of relief when Aaron Muirhead couldn't bury the rebound. Seven minutes later they had an even bigger let off when a sublime, defence-splitting pass from Steven Lawless sent Aidan Fitzpatrick racing in one-on-one with Fulton, but he pulled his shot millimetres wide of the target when he should have scored. Scott Martin should have done better as well in 22 minutes when Accies team-mate Connor Smith slid a pass across the 18-year line and the midfielder could only skew his strike wide under zero pressure. The Accies goal was living a charmed life and Ryan Fulton made a heroic double-save to deny a low Docherty strike from the edge of the box and then, somehow, get his body in the way when Muirhead looked certain to score from all of a few yards. But the hosts' luck ran out in the 28th minute when the Jags eventually took the lead. Kyle Turner crossed to the back post and Graham rose highest to nod the ball back across goal and into the bottom corner. Rankin's men didn't let the heads go down though and pulled level eight minutes later. Connor Smith whipped in a corner from the left and O'Reilly timed his run perfectly to poke the ball past David Mitchell, giving Accies hope going into the interval.

Six minutes into the second half Fulton was called into another important stop when he turned Jack McMillan's strike round the post after Turner had picked him out in acres of space inside the box. On the hour mark Graham thought he'd restored Thistle's lead when he raced onto a long ball and lobbed it over Fulton but the offside flag saved Accies. The Thistle push for a winner continued and moments later Kevin Holt blazed over in yet another let off. Tumilty was then the hero for Accies when he made an incredble goal-line clearance after Fitzpatrick had fired the ball past Fulton in the box. Rankin turned to his bench in 64 minutes with a double switch. Zanatta and Tumilty made way for Lewis Spence and Lewis Smith. The latter Lewis had the chance to make an instant impact when his namesake Connor sent him in on goal, but his poor first touch allowed Thistle to clear the danger. The game threatened to boil over when Spence and Jags keeper David Mitchell had a coming together as they keeper tried to clear. But O'Reilly popped up with a 90th minute header from another Connor Smith corner. It looked certain to win it for Accies but Thistle levelled through Steven Lawless as he fired in a last-gasp equaliser in the sceond minute of stoppage time. Incredibly, Brain Graham found the net for Thistle again moments later but his effort was ruled out for offisde in a frantic finish. Accies are not back in action until the final day of the season on Friday, May 5 when they travel to Arbroath.

ptfc.co.uk

It was a typical end of season basketball game. I felt we could have been out of sight with the chances we created, especially first half. If we'd come off 2/3 nil up it would have been justified. Their goalkeeper made some good saves and we missed some good opportunities. We lost goals from two set plays and it just goes to show that, for all the height that we have in the team and the squad, if the delivery's good, and your markings not tight enough, then anything can happen in a set play. We didn't pick up the set plays well enough and we got punished for that but the flip side of that is that we should have been out of sight in the game. It shows character to come back you know and that was a great finish from Stevie Lawless at the end. Real character, and then I thought the winner was in with Brian, I've seen it back and I think he's onside, but we're not going to use that as an excuse because we should have been well out of sight by then.

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GRAHAM AT THE DOUBLE

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