 Media report |
Partick Thistle ground out a 1-0 win over Ross County today at the Wyre Stadium at Firhill, moving themselves to three points off the top in the William Hill Scottish Championship. Thistle made two changes to the side that grabbed a last-minute equaliser at Cappielow, with Ben Stanway replaced by Ts’oanelo Lets’osa and Cammy Logan moved to the bench to be replaced by Ben McPherson, who returned from international duty. Robbie Crawford remained out with a muscle injury with Dan MacKay not yet ready to return.
County fluffed their lines on an early corner, giving possession straight back after a slip when the dead ball was taken. It was, however an energetic start from both sides, but one lacking in finesse, with the slippery surface making it difficult to get going. Josh Clarke was called into service twice in the ninth minute. First, Lee Ashcroft attempted to head clear, only for the ball to land in the lap of Scott Fraser. Fraser’s effort from outside the area was limp, with Clarke making the save with ease. Seconds later, a throw out from Clarke unfortunately found its way to Roman Hale, now through on goal with only the keeper to beat. Clarke acquitted himself though, making a good stop to ensure the game remained goalless. It was a forgettable return to Firhill for former Jag Ross Docherty, who went down with an injury on 18 minutes. The 20/21 League 1 title winning captain would receive medical treatment, before being replaced by Dean Cornelius. Kyle Turner had an effort on 20 minutes after Watt held the ball up and set him up for an attempt on goal. Turner’s shot was too high, sailing over the bar. Moments later, Hale was one-on-one with Clarke again, but the Thistle keeper once again was the equal of him, as it remained scoreless. The remainder of the half saw both sides show a lot of industry, but not much guile. County had a chance two minutes before half time when Hale had a dig on the turn from the edge of the box, but his effort flew inches wide.
With County having the better of the chances in the first half, Head Coach Wilson decided to switch things up at half time, with Stevie Lawless coming on in place of Aidan Fitzpatrick, as Chalmers switched over to the left wing. The gamble soon paid off, as Thistle finally broke the deadlock on 57 minutes. It started when Lawless picked up the ball inside the box before passing the ball to Lets’osa. The midfielder raced up the park, playing the ball to Oisin Smyth near the half-way line. From there, Smyth and Chalmers played a sumptuous one-two which ended with SMYTH blasting the ball home with an unstoppable volley to put the Jags into the lead. With the wind in their sails and Firhill back in full voice at 1-0. Alex Samuel came on for Tony Watt, who received a round of applause for his considerable efforts before leaving. Thistle had a swagger about them as they went in search of a second, but were unable to break through. The game got nervier in the final fifteen minutes as County turned up the heat, getting increasingly desperate. Thistle dropped back, with Luke McBeth coming on to add an extra line of defence, as the Jags battened down the hatches. The likes of Samuel, Chalmers and Ben Stanway offered respite, putting in the yards up the park to run down the clock and stifle County’s flow. As we ticked over past regulation time, the Dingwall side continued to pose a threat, but Thistle’s back line stood firm. Ben Stanway had a chance to put it beyond doubt at the death, one-on-one with the keeper after a pass from Alex Samueal, but much like Hale, his chance was saved by the keeper. In the end, Thistle prevailed by a single goal.
Today’s win saw the Jags climb to within three points of league leaders St. Johnstone, who suffered a 3-1 defeat away to Arbroath, with a game in hand. Thistle return to action on Tuesday, back at Firhill, with a chance to go joint-top against Ayr United.
 Reaction |
Partick Thistle manager Mark Wilson (speaking to
'The Thistle' 
):
I thought the first half was hard to watch, I must admit. I didn’t think we were great and actually we were fortunate to be in 0-0 thanks to the goalkeeper, Josh [Clarke]. I didn’t think we had enough forward runners to cause their backline any problems, so that was the one thing we said. And there you go - we worked the ball into tighter spaces to get out the other side, which is something we work on a lot. And then we get forward runners. And I said to the guys, it’s no coincidence when you’re there like Oisin was, you actually get success. We're in a good position now. I don’t think many people would have thought at the start of the season that would have been possible after the first full quarter. We’ve obviously come up against Ross County three times now - once in the cup, twice in the league - and we’ve come out on top in all of them. So that’s really pleasing. But again, Ayr’s a tough opponent. But the boys have put themselves in a good position to finish this full quarter of games in a strong area at the table. But it’ll be tough. It’s a tight turnaround and these boys are still getting used to Saturday-Tuesday. I said a couple of weeks ago that the top teams are just used to that. We’re obviously behind in that, so we just need to recover well and I hope we can get the same energy as we got in the second half.
former Jag
Kyle Turner
Alex Samuel
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