27th Sep 2025 Dunfermline Athletic 0 Partick Thistle 2 (SPFL Championship - game 6)

matches:2025-26: ← 13game 1415 →

	Neil Lennon	Mark Wilson	41y, 3m, 22d

		Josh Clarke; Ben McPherson; Oisin Smyth
		Lewis Budinauckas; Cammy Logan; Ben Stanway

		Tony Watt (1-0, 50 secs); Logan Chalmers (2-0, 10‎ mins)
		none (1-0, 50 secs); Tsoanelo Letsosa (2-0, 10‎ mins)
Charlie Gilmour; ‎Billy Terrell		Lee Ashcroft; Tony Watt
Jefferson Cáceres (@ 2-0, 44 mins)
Chris Kane (Barney Stewart, HT); Rory Macleod (Keith Bray, 63 mins); Charlie Gilmour (Tashan Oakley-Boothe, 63 mins); Alfons Amade (Kane Ritchie-Hosler, 73 mins); Andrew Tod (Matty Todd, 73 mins)		Tony Watt (Alex Samuel, 65 mins); Tsoanelo Letsosa (Kyle Turner, 65 mins); Ben McPherson (Cammy Logan, 75 mins); Robbie Crawford (Luke McBeth, 87 mins)

	Billy Terrell	Josh Clarke	21y, 1m, 30d
	Shea Kearney	Ben McPherson	21y, 6m, 8d
	Robbie Fraser	Paddy Reading	26y, 3m, 29d
	Kyle Benedictus	Daniel O'Reilly	30y, 5m, 16d
	John Tod	Lee Ashcroft	32y, 0m, 29d
	Jefferson Cáceres	Robbie Crawford	31y, 3m, 5d
	Alfons Amade	Oisin Smyth	25y, 4m, 22d
	Charlie Gilmour	Tsoanelo Letsosa	21y, 3m, 21d
	Andrew Tod	Tony Watt	31y, 8m, 29d
	Chris Kane	Logan Chalmers	25y, 6m, 3d
	Rory Macleod	Aidan Fitzpatrick	24y, 6m, 7d

			26y, 5m, 25d

	Mason Munn	Lewis Budinauckas	23y, 3m, 8d
	Chris Hamilton	Cammy Logan	23y, 7m, 30d
	Ewan Otoo	Kyle Turner	27y, 10m, 17d
	Kane Ritchie-Hosler	Alex Samuel	30y, 0m, 7d
	Matty Todd	Luke McBeth	26y, 0m, 18d
	Nurudeen Abdulai	Thomas Horn	18y, 8m, 16d
	Barney Stewart	Liam Dolan	16y, 5m, 0d
	Keith Bray
	Tashan Oakley-Boothe

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Thistle filled only 7 of their 9 allocated bench slots.
There's a false narrative that it was Daniel O'Reilly that headed the ball to Tony Watt for Thistle's opening goal, but video evidence clarifies that it was Dunfermline's centre-half, John Tod, so it's "no assist".

TTA report

A poor defensive header fell nicely for Watt (1) then a glorious dipping, swerving 20-yarder by Chalmers put Thistle 2-up (10). The Pars missed chances and hit the bar before h-t then a red card reduced them to 10 (44). Thistle should have increased their lead in the 2nd half but good saves denied them. An entertaining and open game. Thistle saw it out comfortably.

TTA man of the match

It was an impressive first start for OISIN SMYTH in the heart of midfield who was in control at all times. His composure had a good influence on the team as a whole and his second half performance in particular kept Dunfermline chasing.

Media report

27-Sep-2025, ptfc.co.uk

Partick Thistle got off to a blistering start against Dunfermline Athletic at the KDM Group East End Park with goals from Tony Watt and Logan Chalmers that laid the foundations for a 2-0 win against the Fifers. The Jags’ were missing Ben Stanway from the starting line-up after the midfielder failed to fully shake off a knee injury with Oisin Smyth stepping in from kick-off for the first time since joining on loan from St Mirren. On-loan Celtic players, goalkeeper Josh Clarke and defender Ben McPherson were also in from the first whistle after missing last weekend’s Premier Sports Cup tie against Brendan Rodgers’ side with Lewis Budinauckas and Cammy Logan making way. Steven Lawless was absent with a toe problem picked up late in the week and with Zander MacKenzie and Matthew Falconer heading to Queen of the South and Linlithgow Rose on temporary deals this week the substitutes’ bench totalled only seven.

The hosts kicked off attacking the end that housed ‘Red and Yellow’ fans with the visitors awarded a foul on 30 seconds when Robbie Crawford was fouled close to the half-way line. It was to prove a pivotal decision as Thistle took the lead 20 seconds later when the dead ball was knocked down into the path of TONY WATT who crisply despatched a first time shot home. Dunfermline were stung by the visitors’ fast start and Clarke had to carefully watch a lobbed cross land on the roof of his net before rushing from his line and denying Chris Kane. Ben McPherson cleared a dangerous cross before Thistle struck again on nine minutes with a wonderful effort from LOGAN CHALMERS who cut in from the right and sent one of his trademark left footed efforts high into the home net from 19 yards. As Mark Wilson’s men attacked again Aidan Fitzpatrick wriggled free on the left only to see his dangerous cross deflected behind with the resultant corner reaching Lee Ashcroft who was unable to grab a third with just 15 minutes gone. Dunfermline were not settling for being two behind and the Partick Thistle goal had an escape three minutes later when a Jefferson Caceres 8 yard effort bounced into the turf and looped over Clarke only for the shot-stopper to finger-tip the ball onto the bar with Kane inches out with his headed effort on the rebound.

Midway through the opening half Dunfermline had a glimpse of goal again as Rory Macleod popped up unmarked on the left-hand side of Thistle’s box however, he sent his shot wide. Goalscorers Watt and Chalmers combined on the right with half an hour played to release McPherson who picked out Fitzpatrick with a deep cross to the left with the wide-man’s header back into the danger zone just failing to reach Watt. The game continued to be played in an open fashion with Robbie Crawford the furthest forward Thistle player eight minutes from the break and as he looked to get on the end of a Chalmers cross however the ball was just too high. On 40 minutes Macleod took aim from 20 yards with his shot nicking off a defender to win a corner that was worked to Caceres on the right and his low cross incredibly flew through four sets of Pars legs with Clarke’s goal remaining intact. That was to be Caceres’ last positive involvement as 90 seconds from the half-time whistle he sent Dan O’Reilly to the turf 30 yards from Clarke’s goal and was immediately red-carded.

Robbie Crawford restarted proceedings with the first excitement in the second period coming on 50 minutes when Paddy Reading darted through the Black and White shirted defence only to have his progress halted by a sliding tackle with claims for a penalty waved away. Shortly afterwards a fine hooked pass from Crawford found Fitzpatrick and via Watt the play was switched back to the right with the Dunfermline rear-guard relieved when McPherson’s low cross was blocked. Thistle looked to make their extra man count with Ts’oanelo Lets’osa and Crawford both denied in quick succession and when Chalmers turned the ball on 59 minutes he was flagged for offside. Four minutes after the hour mark Kyle Turner and Alex Samuel were brought on and Welshman Samuel quickly bore down on the home goal with referee Nicolson not interested for a second time in appeals for a penalty as he crashed to the ground.

With 68 minutes played Smyth found Fitzpatrick with a precise pass and the left sided attacker was only denied a symmetrical goal to the one scored by Chalmers when Billy Terrell stretched high to his right to push away the number 21’s fiercely hit shot. The two wide men combined with 18 minutes to go when Chalmers picked out Fitzpatrick however this time he could not get a shot on target and fired wide. On 75 minutes the hosts gave Thistle a reminder they were still in the game with a well-struck 18 yard shot from Shea Kearney that Clarke watched carefully as it fizzed away from his goal. Another attack led by Fitzpatrick produced a chance as he cleverly picked out Crawford how side-stepped his marker and looked to find a corner only for Terrell to save well again. Crawford was denied again with ten minutes left as he poked the ball past Terrell after Chalmers had a shot blocked only for John Tod to pop up and head clear. As the game entered the final two minutes Terrell looked to be fortunate to receive only a yellow card after racing out of his box and taking the legs from under Turner who was all set to nip around him and find himself with an open goal.

Reaction

Partick Thistle manager Mark Wilson (speaking to 'The Thistle'

I’m delighted. I’m obviously delighted with the way that we started the game. It’s something that we spoke about mid-week – if we get a free kick in that area and put it in - and it worked out really well. Real aggression from Dan [O’Reilly] to knock it down and Tony [Watt] is in the right area. It’s a terrific finish. Obviously it helps when you score early on but there was a lot to be pleased about in that first half in how we tried to build the game. And we then get the second goal. After that, I suppose Neil [Lennon], if he’s honest, probably could have said his team could have taken some of their opportunities. So a really good game for the neutral to watch. I thought we were good and we probably could have added to our tally as well in the first half. But we were really good, really disciplined and composed, when they went down to ten men and that’s pleasing. I’ve been happy with a lot of stuff this season. Our back four and our goalkeeper have been magnificent. But just maybe, again if I’m being critical, but maybe we concede too many goals at times. So it was important to come to a place like this and have a real solid performance. I know Dunfermline had some chances, but Josh [Clarke] makes a big save at a big time at 1-0, and that’s what he’s really good at. He rushed the ball and got out and kept us in it. After that I thought we were really comfortable. So I’m really pleased for the back line, the goalkeeper, but also the midfield guys and the wide ones as well who worked really hard to get back in. So a really good all-round team performance and a top three points.

Dunfermline manager Neil Lennon (speaking to dafc.co.uk

It was a poor start but our reaction was good. I haven’t seen us create as many chances in half of football since I’ve been here. You can put it down to a bad start but our reaction was good. We missed some easy chances, we played some great football and our goalkeepers have got to start making saves. I’m disappointed with the second goal because it’s gone over him. I’m disappointed with our finishing today because we worked the ball well, we had gilt-edge chances. I’m really angry with Jefferson [Cáceres], really angry because I made it clear after the game on Tuesday that after Jerry [Chilokoa-Mullen] got sent off, team discipline was paramount and for him to do that is just totally unacceptable. He’ll have to learn from that and learn quickly but for me he shouldn’t have to learn from it because they were all told about it on Tuesday. Again we face a complete second half with 10 men and I can’t fault the players. Some of the football in the first half, the two full-backs, the two boys in midfield, the chances we created, we should have equalised straight away.

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