The Thistle Archive

Alan Temple, 30-Apr-2023, The Courier

Arbroath’s survival bid will go down to the wire. It’s never dull with the Lichties. Kyle Turner’s clinical brace for Partick Thistle secured a comfortable 2-0 victory for Kris Doolan’s promotion hopefuls. Now without a win in five, it also keeps Arbroath looking over their shoulders. They could yet finish ninth in the Championship and be plunged into a fraught relegation playoff. Or they could end the campaign on a high and secure a fifth successive season in the second tier; a truly laudable achievement. It all comes down to next Friday night. Arbroath don’t NEED to beat Hamilton on the final day. A 0-0 draw would be sufficient to retain their Championship status — unless Cove Rangers find a way to beat Morton by 18 clear goals at the Balmoral Stadium, that is. An unlikely prospect. Nevertheless, matters would be made much less nervy if the Lichties could address their achilles heel; a failure to ripple the net.

Dale Hilson and Tam O’Brien missed half-decent opportunities against Thistle on Saturday but ultimately the visitors were fairly toothless. Michael McKenna picked up clever pockets of space in the midfield, Hilson worked tirelessly and Yasin Ben El-Mhanni made a couple of incisive passes in the first period before fading entirely as the game wore on. However, it appeared to be a team picked for industry rather than inspiration and, as such, Arbroath have found the net just once in their last five matches. They are the lowest scorers in the division with 29. Whether a change of personnel, strategy or — most challenging of all for a coach — an injection of confidence is required, Arbroath need an attacking spark for the visit of Hamilton. A rueful Dick Campbell acknowledged that impotence in the final third has been “the same all season”. He must hope it does not prove to be the defining factor of it.

Arbroath have every reason to be sick of the sight of Partick Thistle. Not only do they find it maddeningly difficult to get a result against the Jags, the are unable to even ripple the net. The Lichties are winless in seven against Thistle and have failed to score in their last SIX meetings. Roughly 624 minutes of football between the sides have passed since Colin Hamilton beat Jamie Sneddon on March 1, 2022. That game finished 1-1. One must go back further — to December 11, 2021 — for Arbroath’s last victory against Thistle, with Anton Dowds, who was on the bench FOR the Jags on Saturday, and Liam Henderson sealing the 2-0 triumph. While Arbroath’s focus remains on the battle at the bottom, they may just want Partick to win promotion; purely so their paths won’t cross next season.

While there were few pass marks during a forgettable trip west, Derek Gaston did not deserve to be on the losing side. The experienced goalkeeper was fantastic between the sticks and, frankly, was the difference between a defeat and a drubbing. He made terrific stops to deny Turner, Darren Brownlie and Brian Graham as Thistle peppered the Arbroath goal-mouth. All the more impressive, given he was battling illness ahead of the game. Gaston’s quality and consistency should come as no surprise following four years between the sticks at Gayfield, but Arbroath remain lucky to have him — and one more big display may be all that is required to seal safety.

ptfc.co.uk

I thought a well deserved victory in terms of we dominated most of the game. I felt as if we dealt with most of their threats and we imposed ourselves on the game. I'm delighted for Kyle Turner - he scores two fantastic goals and shows he's not just about assists, he's a fanatastic finisher. Two great goals and another clean sheet for us. The whole team defended well, I think you see the work rate of everyone from front to back. I thought Darren Brownlie and Aero marshalled Arbroath's forwards very well, and they also organized the guys in front - Doc and Banzo - we boxed off their strikers and made it really hard for Arbroath to counter us through the middle of the pitch. What we've done now is put ourselves in the best position coming into that last game, we know we can get second, and that's got to be our focus, we've got to look after our result, then what will be will be.

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