30th Aug 2025 Partick Thistle 3 Raith Rovers 2 (SPFL Championship - game 4)

matches:2025-26: ← 10game 1112 →

41y, 2m, 25d	Mark Wilson	Barry Robson

no changes
no changes

Tony Watt (1-0, 7‎ mins); Aidan Fitzpatrick (2-0, 13‎ mins); Logan Chalmers (3-2, 75 mins)		Dylan Easton (2-1, pen 22 mins); Ross Matthews (2-2, 36‎ mins)
Aidan Fitzpatrick (1-0, 7‎ mins); Paddy Reading (2-0, 13‎ mins); Aidan Fitzpatrick (3-2, 75 mins)		‎none (2-1, pen 22 mins); Paul McMullan (2-2, 36‎ mins)
Lee Ashcroft; Ben Stanway; ‎Josh Clarke		Ross Matthews; Callum Fordyce; Lewis Vaughan; Paul Hanlon

Tony Watt (Alex Samuel, 63 mins); Robbie Crawford (Kyle Turner, 73 mins); Tsoanelo Letsosa (Luke McBeth, 81 mins); Logan Chalmers (Steven Lawless, 81 mins)		Josh Mullin (Lewis Vaughan, 53 mins); Scott Brown (Jack Hamilton, 73 mins); Dylan Easton (Richard Chin, 76 mins)

21y, 1m, 2d	Josh Clarke	Josh Rae
21y, 5m, 11d	Ben McPherson	Jordan Doherty
26y, 3m, 1d	Paddy Reading	Paul Hanlon
30y, 4m, 19d	Daniel O'Reilly	Callum Fordyce
32y, 0m, 1d	Lee Ashcroft	Scott Brown
20y, 11m, 10d	Ben Stanway	Lewis Stevenson
31y, 2m, 8d	Robbie Crawford	Ross Matthews
21y, 2m, 24d	Tsoanelo Letsosa	Dylan Easton
31y, 8m, 1d	Tony Watt	Paul McMullan
25y, 5m, 6d	Logan Chalmers	Josh Mullin
24y, 5m, 10d	Aidan Fitzpatrick	Shaun Byrne

26y, 0m, 2d

23y, 2m, 11d	Lewis Budinauckas	Aidan Glavin
23y, 7m, 2d	Cammy Logan	Jai Rowe
27y, 9m, 20d	Kyle Turner	Ewan Wilson
29y, 11m, 10d	Alex Samuel	Darragh O'Connor
34y, 4m, 18d	Steven Lawless	Richard Chin
20y, 0m, 2d	Zander MacKenzie	Jack Hamilton
25y, 11m, 21d	Luke McBeth	Lewis Vaughan
18y, 7m, 19d	Thomas Horn	Josh Gentles
18y, 6m, 7d	Matthew Falconer	Kai Montagu

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.

TTA report

Fitzpatrick's pass across goal for Watt put Thistle 1-up (7). A long run and shot beat the keeper at his near post (13). A trip saw a pen converted (22) then a cross from the bye-line was fired home (36). A poor defensive header let Thistle in and Fitzpatrick crossed for Chalmers to slide in (75). A good Rovers side had a rasping drive off the bar near the end. Excellent fare.

TTA man of the match

He's been putting in a lot of fine performances lately and AIDAN FITZPATRICK reaped big rewards today with a "hat-trick" of "assist-goal-assist". All that you want in a winger, taking on men, whipping inviting balls across and always up for being direct himself when the opportunity arises. His quick-feet wiggle, in-at-the-post goal was trademark Fitzy.

Media report

David Forrest, 30-Aug-2025, ptfc.co.uk

Partick Thistle grabbed all three points in a swashbuckling 3-2 victory over Raith Rovers in the William Hill Scottish Championship at the Wyre Stadium at Firhill on Saturday. Thistle came into the tie off a superb 3-1 victory away to Ross County last week which saw County manager Don Cowie relieved of his duties in the aftermath. There were no changes to the side which had triumphed up at Dingwall, but with the added bonus of Kyle Turner on the bench, returning to the matchday line-up after a substantial layoff through injury.

Thistle started hot and heavy, pressing Raith from the get-go, and it wasn’t long before the strategy paid off as the Jags raced into an early lead. A sumptuous long ball from Ben Stanway found its way to Aidan Fitzpatrick, racing forward into the box. From there Fitzpatrick crossed low into the six yard box, allowing TONY WATT to stretch himself enough and hit home to make it 1-0 after six minutes. The hard press continued to pay dividends as Mark Wilson’s side doubled their lead six minutes later. The ball found its way to FITZPATRICK in the box, who turned towards goal and drilled a lovely shot past Raith keeper Josh Rae into the far corner of the net for 2-0. Raith were down, but not out, and soon they would strike back. Paul McMullan was caught by Lee Ashcroft in the box, with referee Peter Stuart blowing his whistle for a spot kick, which was promptly converted by Dylan Easton to reduce the deficit. Raith eventually restored parity on 35 minutes. After toying with the offside trap multiple times before, McMullan got himself on the end of a ball which flew over the top of the Thistle backline. The angle was deemed to be too tight though for a shot, so he crossed over for Ross Matthews to dispatch home from a few yards out. The sides went down the tunnel level, a fair outcome considering the chaotic nature of what had unfolded.

As the rain continued to pour down in Maryhill, the game became more cagey as both sides tried to take control of the game. Raith’s Lewis Vaughan would soon pick up a yellow card after coming on. Vaughan went down in the box only to be booked for diving instead by the official who viewed it as an attempt to engineer a second Raith penalty. Despite the frenetic pace, the goals looked to have dried up until the 74th minute, when the Jags regained the lead. A misplaced pass from the Raith defence was picked up by Fitzpatrick, who was able to square the ball over for LOGAN CHALMERS to hit home at the back post for 3-2. Despite some late pressure from the Kirkcaldy side, Thistle showed grit and managed to hold their nerve, claiming the three points at the end of a highly entertaining encounter.

Partick Thistle now face an extended layoff with next week’s fixture away to Queen’s Park postponed due to international call-ups for Josh Clarke, Ben McPherson and Ts’oanelo Lets’osa. Thistle’s next game sees them return to the Wyre Stadium at Firhill to face Airdrieonians under the lights on Friday the 12th of September.

Reaction

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

Delighted. It’s a big three points for us going into the international break. We spoke yesterday about the challenge that would present itself today and I must admit I was a wee bit surprised - that’s maybe not the right word - but I was ecstatic with our start and going two up. I was chatting to you yesterday and saying how robust Raith are and how difficult they are to play through, and we'd worked on a lot of things, how to carve them open at times, but I didn't think it would play out so quickly. So great, we got control of the game then it turns on its head. And for the neutral or for anybody watching, that must have been fantastic to watch. When you go two up it's one of these scorelines that goes either way - you get a third before half-time and everybody's cruising, everybody wants a touch of the ball. You lose one and it's only natural that there's a wee bit of nerves and people stop doing the things that got you in the position of two up. And before you know it, it's 2-2 and the flow of the game is kind of going their way. We managed to wrestle it back a wee bit and we finished with a set-piece right at the end of the half that was a good opportunity. Half-time maybe came at a good time, to just calm the players down and tell them to stick to the process and they would get their rewards - and I thought we did that. The game was a wee bit stretched in the second half - again, for the neutral, brilliant - but not what you want to see as a coach. And then we're just waiting on a chance falling to us at the right time. We made a couple of changes. I thought Aidan Fitzpatrick was fantastic today. If that ball fell to anybody else, he might have not had the quality of him fizzing it across. We worked so hard on our wingers getting in at that back post to touch in and Logan certainly made up the hard yards and deserved the goal.

match hubs

Partick Thistle: A People’s History celebrates 150 years of the club through the eyes of the fans. It will be a superb addition to your Thistle collection, expertly curated and edited by Kenny Pieper, a real heart and soul effort from the author and the contributors (the fans).

• The book is set to be published in August 2026, each of the first editions uniquely numbered.
• Pre-order your limited edition copy and add your own dedication or message (up to 500 words).
• A labour of love - all royalties to the club.
Buy now: £18.76 (genius pricing!) from ptfc.co.uk

The Thistle Archive

Partick Thistle stats and stories 1876 to date