 Media report |
Partick Thistle suffered their first defeat with Brian Graham and Mark Wilson at the helm, as they succumbed to a 2-1 reverse away at Airdrieonians. Thistle had hoped to continue their good run, unbeaten in six, as the battle for promotion play-offs continues to rage on. Rhys McCabe’s Airdrie came into the clash remain bottom of the table, having narrowed the gap to Hamilton Academical in ninth to five points with a 5-0 demolition over Queen’s Park in midweek. There was one change from last week’s 1-0 win over Morton, with Kyle Turner returning to the XI, replacing Alex Jakubiak.
It was a high-octane opening at the Albert Bartlett Stadium as both sides pressed hard and high from the opening whistle, with little chance to breathe for the respective defences. Brian Graham had the first meaningful chance of the game on eight minutes. Josh Reid pinged a cross in from the left which Graham got his head to, but the ball sailed inches over the bar. Chances for Crawford and Turner followed, before Airdrie fired back in quick fashion. A Diamonds free kick was scrabbled clear, only for McStravick to pick up the ball, but his shot was hit wide. The Jags had a gilt-edged chance to take the lead on 19 minutes, when Graham managed to lose his man and pick up a pass from Reid to evade Airdrie goalkeeper Cade Melrose who crashed to the ground after colliding with a defender. Clean through on goal, Graham took a touch instead of hitting it and was immediately bundled to the ground by Airdrie defender Aidan Wilson as they somehow got the ball clear. Graham’s protestations for a what looked like a stick-on penalty fell on deaf ears as the referee waved play on and Airdrie survived the scare. Stuart Bannigan was involved in an amusing moment minutes later where he shepherded an Airdrie player into forcing the ball out of play even though the referee had blown for a foul about thirty seconds before. On thirty minutes, Lee Ashcroft made a clever clearance to prevent an Airdrie chance. Even then, Lewis Budinauckas was forced into a save from long range as Airdrie cranked up the heat in the North Lanarkshire sun. Two minutes later, Logan Chalmers split the Airdrie defence to get through on goal. Despite holding the ball up well, his finish flew over the bar. The last five minutes of the half saw Thistle fighting to keep the scoreline blank in the box as Airdrie penned them in. First, Crawford managed to get the ball away from a scramble and moments later, Thistle had to batten down the hatches again from a corner, before McBeth rescued Thistle with a header clear as they went down the tunnel deadlocked.
Airdrieonians picked up where they left off with more pinball in the box in the early going of the second half. Thistle’s failure to deal with a stramash allowed Chris Mochrie to fire home from close range, to give Airdrie the lead on 47 minutes. Thistle tried to respond immediately, with Chalmers breaking through the back line do a one-on-one chance, but keeper Melrose was able to stop it. The game’s frenetic pace started to slow down as Airdrie looked to consolidate their lead. Just before the hour mark, Mochrie had a perfect chance to double Airdrie’s lead, only to drag his shot wide. Thistle looked for an equaliser, and looked to gain control in midfield before claims for a penalty for a handball in Airdrie box were ignored by the referee on 79 minutes. Two minutes later, Thistle were back level in the game, thanks to an equaliser from Ben Stanway on his return from injury. A corner was swung in from Fitzpatrick, only to be cleared away and the ball fell to Chalmers on the left, and he crossed it into the box. Stanway then got his head to it, heading into the top right corner from six yards out to make it 1-1. Spurred on by Stanway’s goal, Thistle went on the charge for a late winner. Dan O’Reilly looked to snatch it with a header in the last seconds of regulation time, only for Airdrie to clear it off the line. Thistle were then caught on the counter, as Airdrie broke up the park. Mochrie found himself unmarked and fired past Budinauckas to give Airdrie the three points late on in an end-to-end game full of drama. The defeat sees the gap between Thistle and fifth-placed Raith Rovers reduced to three points with four games of the season left. Thistle return to action next Saturday, as they host Hamilton Academical at The Wyre Stadium at Firhill.
 Reaction |
Partick Thistle interim co-manager Brian Graham (speaking to the Herald):
We’ve got to be really honest with ourselves, in the first half, the guys at the top end of the pitch – myself included – had opportunities, but we need to be more clinical. Overall we’re disappointed because we’d been on a very good run. But we need to dust ourselves down and go again on Monday. It’s maybe about picking the right pass at times and showing more composure in the final third. That was missing today.
Airdrie player/manager Rhys McCabe (speaking to the Herald):
Full credit to the boys, the character again shown by the group was brilliant. We kept going right to the end and it was a quality finish. I thought it was going to be one of the days when Ben Stanway popped up and got the equaliser. We were good in spells, much more like us, as I call it, in terms of the way we wanted to play. I think Wednesday night [Airdrie beat Queen’s Park 5-0], we took a lot from that and continued it on to no disrespect to Queen's Park, but a much tougher opposition and a much tougher game. So I thought we were excellent. I thought the first half we created a lot of chances, the game kind of flipped on its side a little bit. Partick came into it in the second half, I thought they pinned us back. And then obviously when they get the equaliser, you're thinking it's one of them moments. But full credit to the boys to go on and grab the winner.
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Rhys McCabe
Lewis McGregor
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