22nd Feb 2025 Partick Thistle 1 Airdrieonians 1 (SPFL Championship - game 26)

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matches:2024-25: ← 32game 3334 →

37y, 2m, 30d	Brian Graham	Rhys McCabe
40y, 8m, 17d	Mark Wilson

Lewis Budinauckas; Josh Reid; Ben Stanway; Robbie Crawford; Brian Graham
David Mitchell; Luke McBeth; Scott Martin; Terry Ablade; Aidan Fitzpatrick

Brian Graham (1-0, 17‎ mins)		Ben Wilson (1-1, 54 mins)
Kanayo Megwa (1-0, 17‎ mins)		Adam Frizzell (1-1, 54 mins)
Stuart Bannigan; Daniel O'Reilly; Robbie Crawford; Kanayo Megwa		Mason Hancock; Dean McMaster; Liam McStravick

Stuart Bannigan (Scott Martin, 56 mins); Kyle Turner (Aidan Fitzpatrick, 62 mins); Ben Stanway (Luke McBeth, 62 mins); Brian Graham (Terry Ablade, 74 mins); Robbie Crawford (Matthew Falconer, 74 mins)		Rhys Armstrong (Gavin Gallagher, 69 mins); Mason Hancock (Lewis Strapp, 69 mins); Lewis McGrattan (Liam McStravick, 69 mins); Chris Mochrie (Aaron Reid, 73 mins); Ben Wilson (Lewis McGregor, 79 mins)

22y, 8m, 3d	Lewis Budinauckas	Kieran Wright former Jag
20y, 11m, 17d	Kanayo Megwa	Dylan MacDonald
22y, 9m, 19d	Josh Reid	Mason Hancock
29y, 10m, 11d	Daniel O'Reilly	Sam Graham
31y, 5m, 24d	Lee Ashcroft	Alex Bannon
32y, 5m, 5d	Stuart Bannigan	Dean McMaster
20y, 5m, 2d	Ben Stanway	Rhys Armstrong
30y, 8m, 0d	Robbie Crawford	Lewis McGrattan
37y, 2m, 30d	Brian Graham	Ben Wilson
24y, 10m, 29d	Logan Chalmers	Chris Mochrie
27y, 3m, 12d	Kyle Turner	Adam Frizzell

27y, 4m, 5d

34y, 10m, 18d	David Mitchell	Cade Melrose
27y, 10m, 21d	Scott Martin	Aidan Wilson
34y, 5m, 23d	Aaron Muirhead	Lewis McGregor
23y, 10m, 3d	Daniel MacKay	Aaron Reid
23y, 4m, 10d	Terry Ablade	Liam McStravick
25y, 5m, 13d	Luke McBeth	Cameron Bruce
23y, 11m, 2d	Aidan Fitzpatrick	Craig Watson
19y, 5m, 25d	Zander MacKenzie	Gavin Gallagher
17y, 11m, 30d	Matthew Falconer	Lewis Strapp

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.

TTA report

Graham/Wilson interim Mgrs 18/2/2025. Bottom club Airdrie were hit on the break and Graham slotted home (17). Stanway hit the post and Chalmers fired straight at the keeper. Squandered possession caught Thistle short at the back (54) and Airdrie were the better team until the end. It might well have been a defeat although Thistle were denied a blatant pen later on.

TTA man of the match

LOGAN CHALMERS linked well with Megwa at times, and had a lively game, always prepared to have a go, take his man on and get a shot away. He's looking confident and interested, bodes well if he can keep it going.

Media report

James Cairney, 22-Feb-2025, The Herald

Brian Graham and Mark Wilson’s reign as the Partick Thistle interim management team got off to a subdued start as the Jags were held to a 1-1 draw by relegation-threatened Airdrie at Firhill this afternoon. Graham opened the scoring during the first half, but an under-par performance from the home side after the break where they struggled to create much of note – combined with an equaliser from Airdrie’s Ben Wilson – meant Thistle had to settle for a share of the spoils. The draw, combined with other Championship results, leaves the Jags in fourth in the standings, four points clear of fifth-placed Raith Rovers. The interim management team wasted little time in stamping their authority on the squad, making five changes to the side that lost 3-0 away to Raith Rovers last time out. Goalkeeper David Mitchell came out of the starting XI, which meant a debut for Rangers loanee Lewis Budinauckas, while left-back Josh Reid was handed a first start as Luke McBeth dropped to the bench. Ben Stanway and Robbie Crawford came into the midfield at the expense of Scott Martin and Aidan Fitzpatrick, while Graham replaced Terry Ablade as the Jags’ focal point in attack. It wasn’t just the line-up that was adjusted; the team’s shape had also been tinkered with. The formation was more akin to a 4-1-4-1 than the 4-3-3 fans were used to seeing under Kris Doolan, with Stuart Bannigan sitting at the base of midfield, and Logan Chalmers and Kyle Turner providing the width on the wings.

It wasn’t long before Budinauckas was handed his first examination when Airdrie were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the Thistle area. It was begging for a direct attempt on goal and Adam Frizzell duly obliged, but Budinauckas got across well and smothered it at the second attempt. In the build-up to this game, Graham said the key difference he was looking for in the team was for a greater work-rate. He will have been pleased, then, with the manner in which the Jags broke the deadlock as a flurry of red-and-yellow jerseys bombed forward to hit Airdrie on the counter; doubly so to have provided the final touch. It started with Bannigan snapping up a loose ball in midfield before the 32-year-old shifted the ball left to the unmarked Kanayo Megwa, who had acres of space to run into. The full-back charged forward before cutting inside, doing well to thread a neat pass through to Graham inside the Airdrie area. The club captain took a touch before drilling the ball past one-time Thistle goalie Kieran Wright to hand the home side the lead on 18 minutes. That breakthrough seemed to lift the players’ spirits as the men from Maryhill started to stroke the ball around with confidence. They raised the tempo in search of a second goal, and could have had one a few minutes later when Dan O’Reilly blazed over after the visitors failed to clear their lines from a corner. Barely a minute later, Wright had to be alert to smother a shot from the edge of the area following a fine dribble from Chalmers, who was causing all sorts of problems for Airdrie left-back Mason Hancock. Airdrie, meanwhile, were struggling to fashion clear-cut opportunities of their own. Rhys McCabe’s side were working the ball into some dangerous-looking areas, but that all-important final ball wouldn’t materialise for the Diamonds. Stanway – who was impressive throughout – had spurned a decent opportunity earlier in the first half when he elected to have a go at goal from a narrow angle when he really should have played it to Graham, hitting the ball harmlessly over the bar and receiving a rebuke from his team-mate for good measure. A similar opportunity presented itself with around 10 minutes to go, and on this occasion Stanway drilled a cross-cum-shot towards the back post where Graham was lurking. The ball sped along the corridor of uncertainty and struck the inside of the woodwork before ricocheting clear to the visitors’ relief.

The first half had been encouraging and on the balance of play, Thistle’s 1-0 lead was justified. But it was hard to shake the feeling that the Jags could be exerting a bit more control, and the one-goal advantage felt a little precarious. The task for the second period was simple: score again, and the end result would surely be a foregone conclusion. Thistle’s first chance of note upon the restart arrived seven minutes into the second half. Some neat attacking play down the right resulted in Megwa being slipped into the area out wide and although the right-back’s delivery across the face of goal was inviting, the ball evaded Crawford’s outstretched leg. The home side would be made to rue that missed opportunity a few minutes later as McCabe’s men levelled via a well-executed counter-attack. The visitors swept forward with some lovely one-touch passing, and Ben Wilson’s composed first-time finish gave Budinauckas little hope of preventing it. Things were getting a little nervy now, and the home support were soon on their feet in outrage as they demanded the award of a penalty kick. Turner intercepted a short back-pass to the keeper and touched the ball past Wright, only to be brought to the ground by the shot-stopper. Referee David Dickinson, however, was unmoved. Stanway flashed a header narrowly wide shortly afterwards after a fine cross from Megwa, and it would prove to be the midfielder’s final act of the match as he and Turner made way for Aidan Fitzpatrick and McBeth. Martin had come on a few minutes earlier at the expense of Bannigan. Ten minutes or so passed and after little of note occurred, Ablade and Matthew Falconer came on for Graham and Crawford. Truthfully, the changes made little difference. The game meandered on as it had previously, with neither side really creating all that much – and neither team could complain about a share of the spoils as the ref blew his whistle to signal full-time. The smattering of boos that accompanied it told their own story.

Reaction

Thistle interim co-manager Brian Graham spoke to the Herald:

There were a few times where obviously decision-making has probably killed us. But the principles of what we were after in the first half was clearly there to see. But then I think second half, you can see we tire and I think it's been an issue. The full season we're not fit enough and I thought the last 20 minutes we were on our feet. I thought we'd get a real reaction out of the players, especially first half, and there was a lot of things going right but there was times where I felt we rushed it. Listen, Rome wasn’t built in a day. We had one session to try and prepare them in the way we wanted them to play on Thursday because obviously you can't do too much on a Friday the day before the game. You need to keep them fresh so we had one proper training session on the shape that we wanted to play today. It's just bravery on the ball at times, especially second half, but I think that was down to our fitness. I think some of them were knackered when we had a good 20 minutes to go. We know it's the tail end of the season, we should be fit but listen, for one reason or another, we're not up to real fitness and we've got to try and address that. It takes a few weeks. The standards in training on Tuesday were great. The work rate from them on Tuesday, the data showed that that was the hardest session we've had all season - and it's February. So we need to continue to work them hard but also we need to be cautious because we need to keep them fresh for a Saturday. So it's trying to find that balance. That's the difficult part when you're at this late end of the season. So there's a few things that need corrected but that will take time.

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