30th Sep 2023 Partick Thistle 3 Dunfermline Athletic 0 (SPFL Championship - game 7)

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matches:2023-24: ← 14game 1516 →

36y, 9m, 19d	Kris Doolan	James McPake

Kieran Ngwenya; Scott Robinson
Zander MacKenzie; Ben Stanway

‎Scott Robinson (1-0, 21 mins); Brian Graham (2-0, 49‎ mins); Kerr McInroy (3-0, 60 mins)
Brian Graham (1-0, 21 mins); Aidan Fitzpatrick (2-0, 49‎ mins); Steven Lawless (3-0, 60 mins)
Harry Milne; Brian Graham; Stuart Bannigan‎		Chris Hamilton

Brian Graham (Tomi Adeloye, 67 mins); Aidan Fitzpatrick (Wes McDonald, 73 mins); Stuart Bannigan (Ben Williamson, 79 mins); Scott Robinson (Blair Alston, 79 mins)		Alex Jakubiak (Owen Moffat, 54 mins)

26y, 0m, 24d	Jamie Sneddon	Harrison Sharp
21y, 0m, 5d	Kieran Ngwenya	Michael O'Halloran
26y, 11m, 1d	Harry Milne	Josh Edwards
20y, 4m, 15d	Lewis Neilson	Aaron Comrie
33y, 1m, 0d	Aaron Muirhead	Sam Fisher
31y, 0m, 13d	Stuart Bannigan	Ewan Otoo
23y, 0m, 30d	Kerr McInroy	Joe Chalmers
32y, 5m, 18d	Steven Lawless	Chris Hamilton
35y, 10m, 7d	Brian Graham	Craig Wighton
31y, 6m, 18d	Scott Robinson	Alex Jakubiak former Jag
22y, 6m, 10d	Aidan Fitzpatrick	Lewis McCann

27y, 7m, 26d

33y, 5m, 26d	David Mitchell	Deniz Mehmet
27y, 0m, 15d	Nathan McGinley	Max Little
22y, 1m, 23d	Ben Williamson	Owen Moffat
31y, 6m, 7d	Blair Alston	Miller Fenton
26y, 4m, 26d	Wes McDonald	Liam Hoggan
19y, 0m, 10d	Ben Stanway	Ewan McLeod
18y, 1m, 2d	Zander MacKenzie	Jake Sutherland
18y, 4m, 23d	Ricco Diack
27y, 7m, 13d	Tomi Adeloye

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Dunfermline filled only 7 of their 9 allocated bench slots.
OPTA and 'the network' make no award for the second assist, and it's a borderline case between a rebound or a through ball. We don't feel the trajectory from the goalkeepers intervention was enough to be considered a rebound, rather the ball passed through his gloves. Whilst the direction of the ball changed slightly, it wasn't enough to merit a 'no award'.

TTA report

An open, entertaining game. Possession was pretty even and there were lots of attempts on goal, the difference being Thistle had the more clinical finish. Robinson finished off a Graham header from 12 yards (21), Graham touched in a Lawless cross spilled by the keeper (49) and McInroy's stooping header from 6 yards made it 3-0 (60). Up to 3rd again.

TTA man of the match

KERR McINROY fell back into a deeper midfield role and his ball-winning, distribution and box-to-box energy all contributed to Thistle's forward play running smoothly as a result. Getting forward to skilfully nod home the third rounded off a perfect days work.

Media report

Clare Buchanan, 30-Sep-2023, Dunfermline Press

AN UNDER-PAR Dunfermline side slumped to a three nil defeat at the hands of Partick Thistle. One goal in the first half followed by two in the second half was enough to see Athletic go home pointless after the tie at Firhill. It was a challenging afternoon for James McPake’s men and, despite bright spells in the match, they found themselves unable to capitalise on what chances they had. A disappointed McPake described the match as "disappointing to say the least" but acknowledged that their opponents were "by far the better team" on the day.

The first half saw the home side enjoy most of the possession and majority of chances although it wasn’t one-way traffic with Dunfermline still producing several efforts on goal. However, it was Thistle who came out of the traps the quickest and they were troubling the Pars defence in the opening minutes. Steven Lawless floated in a ball into the box in the opening minute but his effort went past everyone and out for a goal kick. There was another close one shortly after when the ball was blasted in by Brian Graham and put out for a corner. Pars had their first real chance just before the 20 minute mark when Edwards whipped in a cross which found the head of Lewis McCann who nodded just wide. Partick Thistle were ahead minutes later however when Scott Robinson did well to control the ball in the box. He turned and slotted the ball past Harrison Sharp. Strong running by Michael O'Halloran won the Pars a corner on 27 minutes. The ball came out to Edwards whose shot was blocked before Lewis McCann puts in a shot which is put out for another corner.

Pars had two calls for a penalty soon after each other. The first came after good work between McCann and Jacubiak in the box while the second, minutes later, followed an interchange with Otoo and Edwards. Otoo crossed in and the ball was blasted into a Thistle player by Aaron Comrie and went out for a corner despite calls that the Thistle defenders hand had got in the way. On 37 minutes, Jakubiak delivers a lovely long range shot which Thistle keeper Sneddon has to tip over the bar. After a bit of a scramble in the box, the resulting corner is cleared. The Jags looked like they would double their lead on 41 minutes Steven Lawless found himself through with just Sharp to beat but he put his shot straight at the Pars keeper.

Hopes of a second half comeback were dealt a blow early in the second half when Partick Thistle got their second. Aidan Fitzpatrick put in a cross which looked like it was going straight into the arms of Harrison Sharp however the ball trickled past him and Brian Graham was on hand at the far post to tap it in from close range. It was three for the home side on 59 minutes when Lawless' cross found Kerr McInroy who, unchallenged, headed it in the goal to head in to make it 3-0 Pars kept playing till the end and Partick keeper Jamie Sneddon had to be alert to tip the ball round the post after McCann had put in a good shot.

Reaction

Partick Thistle manager Kris Doolan (speaking to Jagzone):

I fully expected us to show a reaction to last week and just delighted that, from minute 1, we were at it, all the way to the 90 plus minutes, and that's the difference. You have to be like that in the Championship, you've got to be on the front foot, you've got to be on your toes. From the start we made good forward runs, Kieran Ngwenya driving forward, Adrian Fitzpatrick running forward. It sets the tone, and we maintained that for the rest of the game. Ultimately, we looked after the ball better, we got the patterns of play that we usually do, and I felt that the balance was a lot better in midfield; I'm obviously delighted with the result.

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