12th May 2023 Queen's Park 0 Partick Thistle 4 (SPFL Premiership play-off Quarter Final, 2nd leg)

matches:2022-23: ← 50game 5152 →

	Owen Coyle	Kris Doolan	36y, 5m, 2d

		Aidan Fitzpatrick
		Stuart Bannigan

		Brian Graham (1-0, 14 mins); Scott Tiffoney (2-0, 28‎ mins); Kevin Holt (3-0, 41 mins); Danny Mullen (4-0, 82 mins)
		Kyle Turner (1-0, 14 mins); Jack McMillan (2-0, 28‎ mins); none (3-0, 41 mins); none (4-0, 82 mins)
		Scott Tiffoney

Charlie Fox (Alex Bannon, HT); Lee Kilday (Stephen Eze, HT); Aaron Healy (Josh McPake, HT); Marcel Oakley (Patrick Jarrett, 73 mins)		Brian Graham (Danny Mullen, 62 mins); Scott Tiffoney (Anton Dowds, 62 mins); Steven Lawless (Cammy Smith, 70 mins); Aidan Fitzpatrick (Cole McKinnon, 77 mins); Ross Docherty (Zander MacKenzie, 77 mins)

	Calum Ferrie	David Mitchell	33y, 1m, 8d
	Marcel Oakley	Jack McMillan	25y, 4m, 24d
	former Jag Tommy Robson	Kevin Holt	30y, 3m, 17d
	Lee Kilday	Darren Brownlie	29y, 1m, 2d
	Charlie Fox	Aaron Muirhead	32y, 8m, 12d
	Jake Davidson	Ross Docherty	30y, 3m, 19d
	Malachi Boateng	Kyle Turner	25y, 6m, 2d
	Dom Thomas	Steven Lawless	32y, 1m, 0d
	Connor Shields	Brian Graham	35y, 5m, 19d
	Louis Longridge	Scott Tiffoney	24y, 8m, 16d
	Aaron Healy	Aidan Fitzpatrick	22y, 1m, 22d

			29y, 1m, 27d

	Callan McKenna	Jamie Sneddon	25y, 8m, 6d
	Euan Henderson	Anton Dowds	26y, 5m, 23d
	Josh McPake	Cammy Smith	27y, 8m, 18d
	Lewis Moore	Cole McKinnon	20y, 3m, 13d
	Alex Bannon	Lee Hodson	31y, 7m, 10d
	Patrick Jarrett	Danny Mullen	28y, 2m, 11d
	Lewis Reid	Billy Owens	19y, 11m, 6d
	Stephen Eze	Zander MacKenzie	17y, 8m, 14d
		Ji Stevenson	17y, 9m, 13d

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Queen's Park filled 8 of their 9 allocated bench slots, Jack Thomson (who was initially in the starting eleven) having injured himself in the warm-up.

TTA report

AGG: 8-3. Queens might have scored (8) but Mitchell blocked/Brownlie cleared. A side-footer in the top corner by Graham (14), Tiffoney's shot from a McMillan cut-back (28) and Graham's header parried by the keeper and bundled in by Holt (41) let Thistle “game manage“ after half-time. Mullen's header (82) emphasised Thistle's superiority.

Media report

Alison McConnell, 12-May-2023, The Herald

Partick Thistle did not require any of the late drama that was on show at Firhill on Tuesday night as they eased their way into the semi-final of the Championship play-offs after an emphatic win - 8-3 on aggregate - over Queen’s Park. Goals from Brian Graham and Scott Tiffoney before the half-hour mark thumped the wind out of Owen Coyle’s side. They knew the game, the tie and the season was gone way before Thistle rubbed salt in the wound with a third from Kevin Holt four minutes before the break. Danny Mullen’s goal as they game drew painfully to a close for Queen’s Park simply added another layer of humiliation. Having spent so much of the Championship season in a commanding position it is difficult not to draw the conclusion that Queen’s Park crumbled in the concluding months of the campaign as they toiled to cope with the mental pressure of the run-in. They will rue the ones that got away - the evening in March when Arbroath claimed a late 1-0 to win to stop them opening up what would have been a seven-point lead at the top of the table, albeit Dundee at that stage still had a game in hand springs to mind - and their response next term will be interesting.

As they lick their wounds from a campaign that promised so much and has delivered so little, Partick Thistle will feel that, by contrast, they timed their run pretty well as they set up a semi-final Championship play-off with Ayr United, the first leg of which is at Firhill this Friday night. Certainly, they will go into it with a spring in their step after the manner in which they dismantled Queen’s Park last night. There was verve and an energy about Thistle aided by the craft of Steven Lawless in the middle of the park while Kyle Turner, Tiffoney and Brian Graham were a persistent menace to the host’s backline. Thistle were backed by a noisy travelling support behind the Queen’s Park goal which had the effect of lending Thistle the feel of a home game such was their support. It is something that has worked against Queen’s Park this term, most notably last weekend against Dundee as the Dens Park side claimed the title. They will look forward to heading to their own home next season. Kris Doolan had urged his side to show the same aggression and energy that they had finished a pulsating first-leg with and he got what he wanted.

Prior to the opener, however, it might have been a different night had Queen’s Park opened the scoring and levelled the tie. Jake Davidson, who had been introduced at the last minute into the starting line-up after a warm-up injury for Jack Thomson, had two bites at the cherry as he had a shot repelled by Thistle keeper David Mitchell who had come off his line but the ball broke kindly for the midfielder for a second effort that was hacked off the line by Darren Brownlie. Thistle upped the ante as they forced a series of corners with the opener coming from Turner’s delivery on the 15-minute mark. Graham cushioned a sweet right-foot volley with the inside of his boot into the bottom corner to give Thistle the lead and start the show. It palpably flattened Queen’s Park as Thistle looked to take control. There was a tame effort from Aaron Healy from the edge of the box that did little to trouble Jags keeper Mitchell before Thistle turned the screw. It was a fine passing move for the second of the night that cut open the Spiders defence with Lawless at the heart of the move. His ball out to Jack McMillan was squared across the six-yard box for Tiffoney to spear his effort well beyond Ferrie to double Thistle’s lead. A third came shortly after. A Ross Docherty cross was met by the head of Graham and while his effort was palmed away by Ferrie, Holt had anticipated a rebound and gratefully took the luck of the ball bouncing off his shin and looping into the net.

Queen’s Park rang the changes at the break with a trio of substitutes but by that point all was gone. Tiffoney ought to have made it four when he aimed an effort straight at Ferrie but it was was simply a delay. Mullen claimed that one when Cammy Smith’s effort from the edge of the box took a deflection, was parried by Ferrie but met by Mullen who bundled it over the line. All eyes now on Friday.

Reaction

Speaking to the Herald, Kris Doolan - in the dugout just days after the passing of his father - said of an emotional night:

There was never any doubt I would be in the dug out. It’s what my dad would have wanted. He was a big Partick Thistle fan just like me. Nobody wants to see us do well more than me or him. He followed us everywhere when I played, he wanted me here tonight. He watched the game the other night and I was with him just after it. So it’s a big thank you for the manner the players went about things because it could have been one of those games they get dragged into the occasion. But I felt their minds were set to put on a performance. It was a fitting tribute. There’s no better tonic than watching us pay like that. He would be proud of the players and the club because everyone has come together.

Queen's Park manager Owen Coyle (speaking to The Herald):

It is a young group. They will have learned so much from that. It is sore just now, of course it is, but we will come back better for it next season.

FOR LAWRENCE DOOLAN

● Fittingly, in the 9th minute, the red-n-yell army raised a banner in support of Kris Doolan with a minute's applause for his late father (Lawrence Doolan, died 11th May 2023). Doolan: “He was a big Partick Thistle fan just like me. Nobody wants to see us do well more than me or him. He followed us everywhere when I played, he wanted me here tonight. He would be proud of the players and the club because everyone has come together.”

● Brian Graham registers his 18th competitive goal of the season, the highest tally since Kris Doolan did likewise in 2010-11.

● Kyle Turner registers his 12th assist of 2022-23, the highest tally of any Thistle player in the last 10 seasons.

● It's now amazing 9 direct goal involvements in his last 7 games for the electric Scott Tiffoney. He becomes the second Jag to hit double figures in the goals department this term.

● Jack McMillan registers his 11th assist of the season. As it stands, only Kyle Turner (12) has delivered more in any one of the last 10 seasons.

● With his 8th goal of the season, Kevin Holt looks certain to finish as Thistle's top scoring defender in 2022-23. 3 of his goals have came against Queen's Park!

● Danny Mullen scores his last goal for Thistle.

● Thistle match Forfar's away win play-off record score (5-1) set vs. Peterhead in 2017.

● The 26-goal aggregate between these two clubs in 2022-23 is the largest total in competitive H2H's since 1969-70 when Thistle and St Johnstone shared 27 goals between them. The club-record (31) was set vs. Celtic in 1968-69.

● Thistle score 4 for the third game in a row versus Queen's Park, a feat only ever seen once in the H2H, way back in 1946.

● These sides have went 43 years without a draw against each other, an unlikely 23-game run.

● There's never been a draw between Thistle and Owen Coyle as opposition manager. 6 Thistle wins have been offset by 10 defeats.

● Big congratulations are in order to the free-flowing class of 2022-23. With 90 goals in all competitions, they currently sit as the second highest scoring Thistle team of the last 40 seasons, second only to the 96-goal vintage of 2012-13.

● In 2006, Partick Thistle became the first Scottish club to finish 4th and win promotion. The Jags now become the first 4th placed club to win a Premiership play-off tie. An institution like no other.

● 27-year-old Cammy Smith plays his last game for Thistle.

ongoing sequences:

● 6 competitive home games without defeat; 4th Mar 2023 to date. (Longest run since: 7 games; 20th Mar 2021 to 29th Apr 2021. Club-record: 24 games; 5th May 2001 to 17th Aug 2002.)

● 8 competitive games without defeat, 1st Apr 2023 to date. (Longest run since: 9 games, 15th Oct 2021 to 4th Dec 2021. Joint club-record: 16 games, 15th Nov 1975 to 21st Feb 1976 & 30th Sep 2000 to 13th Jan 2001.)

● 48 consecutive competitive appearances for Jack McMillan, 9th Jul 2022 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: James Penrice - 51 games, 7th Sep 2019 to 10th Apr 2021. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

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