The Thistle Archive

Darin Hutson, 06-May-2023, Fife Today

The Fifers being the only team in the division with nothing to play for as they were destined to end up seventh in the table however events unfolded at Kirkcaldy’s Stark’s Park, Friday night’s game was the deadest and most rubbery of dead rubbers for them, but they and manager Ian Murray weren’t looking at it that way as they were keen to sign off for the summer on a positive note and give their fans something to cheer about. Thistle manager Kris Doolan’s visitors, on the other hand, were in pursuit of one of the Scottish Premiership play-off places coveted by Raith earlier in the season but put out of reach by a recent run of disappointing results. Four goals and a point apiece ticked both boxes, honour being satisfied from Raith’s perspective by a respectable performance and Thistle, though dropping a place in the table, remaining in the top four by virtue of their goal difference being ten better than fifth-placed Greenock Morton’s. Partick now go on to host itinerant Glasgow rivals Queen’s Park in a play-off quarter-final first leg on Tuesday, with the second leg following at Stenhousemuir’s Ochilview Park next Friday.

Darren Brownlie’s 21st-minute opener put Thistle on course to retain possession of third place but a 35th-minute Lewis Vaughan penalty and Scott McGill strike on the hour mark threatened to spoil their party until a Scott Tiffoney equaliser on 68 minutes to make it 2-2 salvaged their top-four status, nullifying Morton’s 2-1 victory at Cove Rangers at the same time. Murray singled out veteran goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald for praise for the part he played in securing a point by keeping out an 82nd-minute Danny Mullen header that looked all but certain to win the game for them, saying: “Towards the end, Jamie came up with an incredible save. I was expecting the net to bulge, so we have to thank our goalkeeper as well.” Rovers finish the season on 43 points from 36 fixtures, 20 worse off than champions Dundee but a dozen clear of basement side Cove.

Murray was satisfied by the second half of his side’s swan-song for an injury-ravaged season, if not the preceding 45 minutes, telling Raith TV afterwards:

Overall, I thought we deserved our point. In the first half, we were very poor, but Thistle were very good as well, we have to acknowledge that. They’re a really good football side and they play really good stuff. They’re playing a short game now and we struggled with their movement and to match their runners. We looked a wee bit tired, which is understandable, and a wee bit leggy, but in the second half I thought we were excellent. We got much closer to their players in wide areas, we nullified their two wide players, who were causing us a lot of bother, and our two centre-halves were excellent as well. I’m delighted for the players to get a point and I’m delighted for the supporters to go away with a wee smile on their faces as we all deserved that.

ptfc.co.uk

It was frantic, it was probably everything you expect to see in an end-of-season Championship game. We always talk about possession with a purpose, we want to go forward with a purpose, and there was a spell where we invited a bit of pressure by knocking the ball around at the back and there was a bit of a lack of movement at times to keep the ball moving forward, but I still didn't feel as if we were under huge amounts of pressure, and it takes a mistake from us to allow them to get back in the game, and then they get their tails up. But we came back from behind and then, right at the very end, Danny Mullen's header, I don't know how Jamie MacDonald's saved it from a couple of yards out, but if that goes in it's a different game. Ultimately it didn't, we need to deal with that and be ready for the game on Tuesday. I want to see - in the play off games - that if we take the lead we stay on the front foot as we've shown in a number of games throughout the season. When we take the lead we've got to drive that lead home.

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A COSTLY DRAW

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