2nd Aug 2025 St Johnstone 5 Partick Thistle 1 (SPFL Championship - game 1)

matches:2025-26: ← 06game 0708 →

	Simo Valakari	Mark Wilson	41y, 1m, 28d

		no changes
		no changes

Jamie Gullan (1-1, 17 mins); Josh McPake (1-2, 28 mins); Josh McPake (1-3, 37 mins); Josh McPake (1-4, 48 mins); Stevie Mallan (1-5, 82 mins)		Paddy Reading (1-0, 15 mins)
Stevie Mallan (1-1, 17 mins); Jamie Gullan (1-2, 28 mins); Stevie Mallan (1-3, 37 mins); Adama Sidibeh (1-4, 48 mins); none (1-5, 82 mins)		Cammy Logan (1-0, 15 mins)
Jason Holt; Reghan Tumilty		Daniel O'Reilly; Luke McBeth

Reghan Tumilty (Sven Sprangler, HT); Josh McPake (Makenzie Kirk, 61 mins); Jamie Gullan (Jonathan Svedberg, 69 mins); Adama Sidibeh (Uche Ikpeazu, 82 mins); Stevie Mallan (Fran Franczak, 82 mins)		Aidan Fitzpatrick (Ben Stanway, HT); Tsoanelo Letsosa (Steven Lawless, 63 mins); Tony Watt (Thomas Horn, 74 mins)

	Toby Steward	Lewis Budinauckas	23y, 1m, 7d
	Reghan Tumilty	Cammy Logan	23y, 5m, 28d
	Matty Foulds	Paddy Reading	26y, 1m, 27d
	Cheick Diabate	Daniel O'Reilly	30y, 3m, 15d
	Jack Baird	Lee Ashcroft	31y, 10m, 27d
	Reece McAlear	Luke McBeth	25y, 10m, 17d
	Jason Holt	Robbie Crawford	31y, 1m, 4d
	Stevie Mallan	Tsoanelo Letsosa	21y, 1m, 20d
	Adama Sidibeh	Tony Watt	31y, 6m, 27d
	Jamie Gullan	Logan Chalmers	25y, 4m, 2d
	Josh McPake	Aidan Fitzpatrick	24y, 4m, 6d

			26y, 9m, 9d

	Ross Sinclair	Josh Clarke	21y, 0m, 5d
	Jonathan Svedberg	Steven Lawless	34y, 3m, 21d
	Sam Stanton	Zander MacKenzie	19y, 11m, 5d
	Uche Ikpeazu	Ben Stanway	20y, 10m, 13d
	Taylor Steven	Thomas Horn	18y, 6m, 22d
	Sven Sprangler	Matthew Falconer	18y, 5m, 10d
	Scott Bright	Liam Dolan	16y, 3m, 6d
	Makenzie Kirk
	Fran Franczak

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Thistle filled only 7 of their 9 allocated bench slots.
There's 'no assist' credited for St Johnstone's third, but it's reasonable to give it to Stevie Mallan as his pass across the face of goal didn't change trajectory en route to the scorer, albeit it bobbled off a couple of Thistle defenders on its way.

TTA report

The warning signs were evident even before Reading scored at the back post (15). Thistle were taken apart by Saints who were slick-moving with and without the ball, aided by some dreadful defending and gifted possession. The lead lasted 2 minutes and it was 3-1 by h-t. 4-1 (48) killed it and, mercifully, there was only one further goal (82). Bottom of the league. The only club to lose game one.

TTA man of the match

It was a day when the whole team was sub-par, but LOGAN CHALMERS showed up well now and again to offer glimmers of hope. Played a key role in the opening goal with a clever back heel that released Cammy Logan to cross.

Media report

David Forrest, 02-Aug-2025, ptfc.co.uk

Partick Thistle tasted defeat for the first time this season with a chastening 5-1 loss to St. Johnstone at McDiarmid Park in the William Hill Scottish Championship. Mark Wilson named an unchanged side from the 3-1 victory over Ross County up at Dingwall last Saturday as Thistle returned to the Fair City for the first time in seven years off the back of a 100% record in the Premier Sports Cup group stages.

The Saints had the advantage in the early going, launching attacks on the Jags goal, with Adama Sidibeh coming perilously close on four minutes. Lewis Budinauckas made a number of vital saves early on to keep the game goalless, as St. Johnstone heaped on the pressure. After a Jamie Gullan effort saw both Dan O’Reilly and Lewis Budinauckus (twice) get called into action to stop the ball from going over the line, the Jags raced forward on the counter to open the scoring. A clever backheel from Logan Chalmers to Cammy Logan allowed him to launch the ball over to PADDY READING, who slotted home for his first goal in red and yellow from six yards. The lead would be short lived though as Jamie Gillian raced into space two minutes after, firing past Budinauckas to equalise for the Saints. St. Johnstone then took the lead ten minutes later. Josh McPake curled a shot in from the left-hand side to nudge the home team in front. The Jags were looking to get a route back to equality with Tony Watt and Dan O’Reilly going close with headers. St Johnstone, however, tried their best to kill the game off in the first half with Reece McAlear and Reghan Tumilty both coming dangerously near. The third goal did eventually come before half time though, as McPake grabbed his second. A stramash in the box saw McPake squeeze home the ball to give Saints a two-goal lead. Despite some good counter attacking play from the visitors it was the Saints that found themselves deservedly in front going down the tunnel.

With Thistle looking for a route back into the game, Wilson made a change at half time, with Aidan Fitzpatrick coming off. Ben Stanway took his place, as Thistle reverted to a 3-5-2 formation. That route was further away, as McPake once again found himself with space on the left wing. With the Jags backline backing off, McPake was able to complete his hat trick with a facsimile of his first goal two minutes after the interval. With the game looking well and truly done, the tempo slowed as Thistle failed to get any traction going forward. Saints played the last half hour, dominant in possession. Salt was rubbed into the Thistle wound on 81 minutes though when Stevie Malian curled a stupendous free kick into the top corner past a powerless Budinauckas for St. Johnstone’s fifth. It was a painful full stop on a poor Jags performance, as the Harry Wraggs were brought back down to reality after a superb Premier Sports Cup campaign. Mark Wilson’s side will hope to bounce back next Saturday, when they welcome Greenock Morton to the Wyre Stadium at Firhill for our opening home game of the campaign.

Reaction

Partick Thistle manager Mark Wilson (speaking to the media c/o 'The Thistle'

Bud [Lewis Budinauckas] had a few good saves, but of course when you score a goal like we did, it's important just to stay solid for five to ten minutes and frustrate the home crowd, and we never managed to do that. But, credit to St Johnstone because it's easy on the opening day of the season to concede early and maybe go into your shells because they're the favourites for this division. But to be fair they've got quality in there. They kept moving the ball quickly, made it difficult for us, and they took their chances when they had them - and if I'm being honest, it could have been more. It brings us back down to earth with a wee bit of a bump because everything's been sailing in the right direction, no doubt about that. If I'm honest, I just think we were off it in everything that we did today. Against a quality side like St Johnstone, who've got as strong a squad as they have, if you don't do everything spot on, you're going to get found out. Obviously we were too wide open at times. I'll take that on the chin I'll take a lot of the hit on that one. The way that we pressed, we didn't quite get right in the first period and that allows St Johnstone to build a bit of momentum and get a couple of chances. But then we scored a fantastic goal, something we've been working on, and you're thinking, ‘Great’. At that period you're just looking to maybe ride the storm for a wee bit and we concede so early. But St Johnstone were excellent today, we've got to give them credit, and we were off it.

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