The Thistle Archive

David Proudfoot, 05-Aug-2023, raithrovers.net

They say Firhill for thrills and, although it’s now called ‘The Wyre Stadium at Firhill’, it didn’t disappoint. Old football adages and clichés such as ‘it was a game of two halves’ and ‘defences not on top’ couldn’t have been more apt for this league season opener. With both teams having progressed from the group stages of the League Cup and, in fact, both drawing away ties in the capital, this one was poised nicely.

Rovers came out of the traps quickly and Euan Murray should have put Rovers ahead on his return to the starting line up within three minutes; however, he blazed over from 8 yards after a Dylan Easton cutback. Partick quickly rubbed salt into that wound; Brian Graham headed back across goal and Jack McMillan found himself unmarked to head in off the underside of the bar. Partick 1-0 Rovers. The game continued to flow from end-to-end with both teams passing up guilt-edged chances. Jack Hamilton saw his left-footed finish go just the wrong side of the post and then a nice move from Lewis Vaughan and Callum Smith found Hamilton at the back post but his right-footed volley went over the bar. Partick continued to make chances too and Kerr McInroy should have given the hosts a two nil lead but, as he slid in, his effort went just wide of Kevin Dabrowski’s post. Rovers, though, received a sucker punch just on half-time. A quick free kick found Aidan Fitzpatrick unmarked at the back post and he managed to steer it home to give The Jags a 2-0 lead. Partick 2-0 Rovers. Half-time: Partick Thistle 2-0 Raith Rovers.

Rovers, probably undeservedly 2-0 down at the break – in a game which could easily have been 3-3 – set to the task of breaking down the Thistle resistance. Smith was first to threaten, timing his volley perfectly but unlucky to see his effort rebound back off the crossbar. The hosts also threatened from time-to-time but Dabrowski made some reasonably comfortable saves in the away goal. As the game looked to be drifting towards a home win, Rovers’ manager Ian Murray rolled the dice by introducing Ethan Ross and Kieran Mitchell, to give the tiring team a little extra energy – and it paid off! Ross started attacking makeshift fullback Ola Williams and the Partick man struggled to cope with Ross’ pace and trickery. Some neat play on the left found Dylan Easton and after setting himself nicely saw his deflected shot fly past David Mitchell in the home goal. 2-1 and it was game on with seven minutes to play. Partick 2-1 Rovers.

Buoyed by the goal, both the Rovers team and the 431 strong travelling support started to believe the comeback was possible – and they were proved right. Again, some clever play and persistence from Ross down the left made space on the byline and his cutback was perfectly placed for fellow sub Kieran Mitchell to steer home with his left foot. A great moment to score his first competitive goal in Rovers’ colours and the last-minute icing on the cake for what was a very entertaining opening fixture. Partick 2-2 Rovers. Both teams had half chances in injury time but the game finished 2-2 (mirroring the final day result at Stark’s Park from last season) proving there’s not much between the teams, and all to play for this season.

Thistle manager Kris Doolan (speaking to Jagzone):

We're very disappointed - to throw away a two goal lead is really poor from us. They'll feel as though they've got three points and we feel as if it's a defeat. But, you look at the first half, the style of play, that's the way I want us to be, but in the second half we didn't quite get to those levels again, even though we still had chances and still created. In the second half I felt we were a wee bit more open and, to be honest, I would put my hands up - I changed the shape. I felt as if putting the two strikers on and going to 4-2-2 would stiffen us up and it probably backfired in that regard in terms of leaving us a wee bit light, but nothing to do with personnel more to do with shapes and it maybe disrupted our fluidity. Lesson learned and we'll move on to the next one.

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2-2 DÉJÀ VU

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