 Media report |
It may be Diwali, but the best fireworks in Glasgow were to be found on the pitch at the Wyre Stadium at Firhill on Tuesday night as Partick Thistle triumphed 2-1 over Ayr United in a Championship clash that saw sparks fly. Both sides came into the clash in sparkling form, with Thistle unbeaten in nine league games and Ayr’s last defeat coming back in August at the hands of Mark Wilson’s Jags in the Premier Sports Cup. Thistle made two changes to the squad which triumphed 1-0 over Ross County on Saturday, with Alex Samuel replacing Tony Watt up front, while Ben Stanway came back into the fold having missed out on Saturday, replacing Kyle Turner. Ayr’s squad had more than their fair share of Jags alumni with goalkeeper David Mitchell and Kevin Holt making the starting XI while Anton Dowds and Firhill legend Stuart Bannigan were on the bench.
It was a cagier start to the game than the two sides’ League Cup tie in August, with little in the way of chances for either side in the opening fifteen minutes. Ayr, in particular, found it difficult to piece moves together in the opening minutes as Thistle bore down on them in the early going. The Honest Men’s did create an opportunity courtesy of Ethan Walker on the ninth minute after Thistle lost the ball in their own half. Despite having time to drive forward or pick out a pass, Walker instead opted to go for goal, with his shot more likely to hit the Woodside Inn than it was the goal upon lift off. Stanway looked primed to give Thistle the lead on nineteen minutes when he got on the end of a ball flung into the box by Chalmers, but was unable to get his shot off before Mitchell got to it. The game became more of a dogged tussle with Ayr not afraid of a physical approach in their attempts to keep the Jags at bay. Referee Calum Scott’s whistle was used frequently, to stop and start the game which added to the frustrations of both sets of fans. The whistle was not used however when Ben Stanway went down in the box on 35 minutes, with Scott waving off the protestations and playing on. The Jags continued to plug away, with corners from Fitzpatrick and Chalmers threatening the Ayr goalmouth, but failing to produce a goal. The ferocity of the first half soon took its toll on the Jags, as Lee Ashcroft went down injured following a dangerous cross into the Thistle box, with Luke McBeth coming on for him. Second later, before Wilson’s team had time to regroup, Ayr took the lead. Walker made up for his wayward chance earlier, racing through the middle and hitting home in stoppage time to put the visitors 1-0 up going into the break.
At half time, Wilson turned to his substitutes’ bench, with Watt replacing Samuel up front. Chalmers and Fitzpatrick switched sides, while Dan O’Reilly took the captain’s armband. The impact was immediate as Thistle raced up the park from kick off, with Chalmers bombing down the left. The winger then effortlessly dispatched his cross into the path of TS’OANELO LETS’OSA to blast into the net and immediately restore parity. Four minutes after, Wilson’s men took the lead, much to the delight of the Red and Yellow Army. The ball worked its way to the box, however just when it looked like Ayr had survived STANWAY picked it off Kyle Ure’s toes who sent an exquisite curling shot out of the reach of keeper Mitchell to give Thistle the advantage. From there, the pace of the game dipped after a frantic opening ten minutes to the half. Thistle settled into a groove, content to keep Ayr at arm’s length as Scott Brown’s men huffed and puffed in search of an equaliser. The killer blow for Ayr came in the 71st minute when Walker was given his marching orders in bizarre circumstances. The goalscorer received treatment at the side of the pitch after going down hurt, before making his way back on to the pitch without the referee’s permission. Having been booked in the first half, Walker was shown a second yellow and sent for an early bath. The peculiar incident caught most of the crowd unawares, but not the Ayr Technical Area, who were seen to pass comment on the decision. Down to ten men, Ayr adapted and threw themselves at the Jags in search of an equaliser, but were unable to break through, ultimately falling to defeat.
The result sees the Jags extend their undefeated league in the streak to ten games and draw level with league leaders St Johnstone at the top of the Championship table. Partick Thistle return to action on Saturday, with a trip to Kirkcaldy to face Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park.
 Reaction |
Partick Thistle manager Mark Wilson (speaking to
'The Thistle' 
):
We asked for a much more high-intensity press than we had on Saturday, which I wasn’t actually happy about, and I thought they were brilliant. That’s the game for you. You can be brilliant for 45 minutes and switch off for 30 seconds and get hurt. We just said, ‘Don’t panic, we’ve been here before. Don’t change anything you’re doing. Don’t get desperate, but go after them again and be aggressive with the ball when we get it’. And that’s what they did. We obviously switched Logan and Fitzy over. I thought we could get joy for Logan from that side, and it played out perfectly well. Another great assist for him. Ts’oanelo is on the end of it to put it in the back of the net and we’re off and running. You’ve got to stick together as a group and you’ve got to believe in each other and trust each other. I think they do that time and time again. I’m really pleased that they get the quick start and then they go after the ball again. The second goal pleases me, because I thought last year when I came into the job and even at the start of this year, we’re not quick enough to restart. So any time the ball goes out the pitch, it’s often everybody gets in their positions before we throw the ball or we’ll take a free kick. So it’s something I’ve been banging on about until I’m blue in the face. We win a throw-in and Stanway picks the ball up right away and we’re off and running. Okay, we lose it, but again the intensity of that counter-press is what I was banging on about and what I presented to the players the other day, and Stanway nicks it. The finish, I can’t teach him. Alex [Rae] spends a lot of time, particularly with Stanway, in training, after training, perfecting that finish and it’s brilliant to see when that comes off.
Lee Ashcroft
Kyle Turner
former Jag
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