 Media report |
Goals from Dylan Easton and Paul Hanlon saw Partick Thistle slump to a 2-0 defeat away to Raith Rovers in the William Hill Scottish Championship. Mark Wilson’s side came into the fixture unbeaten in their last ten league games, joint top with St Johnstone in the table. Raith Rovers, on the other hand, came into the contest off the back of three consecutive 2-0 losses, but emboldened by Thistle’s disappointing recent league record at Stark’s Park. Indeed, there have been no less than six British prime ministers in the time since Thistle last picked up three points at Kirkcaldy in 2011. There were two changes to the visiting squad who came from behind to defeat Ayr United on Tuesday. Skipper Lee Ashcroft and Alex Samuel dropped out, having both sustained injuries in the clash at The Wyre Stadium at Firhill. Luke McBeth and Tony Watt came in to replace them, with Dan O’Reilly wearing the captain’s armband in lieu of Ashcroft, while Dan Mackay made his first appearance in a matchday squad for several months after injury.
It was all hands-on deck to start as Raith looked to play us at our own game, hitting us hard from the outset, but it would be Thistle who provided the first moment of the match. Paddy Reading went down in the box after two minutes, but the referee was unmoved by pleas for a penalty, waving play on. Dylan Easton in particular caused Thistle issues in the early going. On ten minutes, he carved open the Jags defence for a chance, but his effort lacked power and was easily marshalled by Thistle keeper Josh Clarke. Five minutes later, it was Easton again giving Mark Wilson’s men hassle, gliding past Ben McPherson before launching in a cross. Clarke, once again, was able to cope with it as Thistle remained under pressure. As the half wore on though, the away side grew into the game hitting Raith on the counter when the opportunity arose. 22 minutes in, Tony Watt got himself on the end of an Aidan Fitzpatrick free kick, however he was not able to put enough mustard on his shot to trouble keeper Josh Rae in the Raith goal. The final fifteen minutes of the half saw the Jags assert themselves fully in the game, having the lion’s share of chances. First, the ball spun its way out to Logan Chalmers in the box after Stanway charged down a clearance. With the ball flying through the air, Chalmers opted for a header, but his effort went out for a goal kick. Stanway would soon have a shot rise over the bar, while Reading later found his dangerous cross into the box cleared out for a goal kick to ensure both sides went into the break goalless. A much stronger Thistle performance had Wilson’s side threaten late into the first half, but lacked the clinical edge needed to break the deadlock.
The first ten minutes on the second half were scrappy with little in the way of notable incidents as both sides tried to find an opening. It would be Raith that finally opened the scoring on 55 minutes though, through Dylan Easton. A flick on from Jack Hamilton found its way to Scott Brown, who teed up Easton in way space. Easton looked to mishit his effort, however the ball ran through McBeth’s legs after two deflections and trickled into the net at the right-hand post, with Clarke diving the other way, to make it 1-0 to the home side. Now in front, Raith seized control of the game, adding a second eleven minutes after, courtesy of Paul Hanlon. A corner was launched across the box and flicked over everyone’s heads by Darragh O’Connor, before falling at Hanlon’s doorstep for him to tap in at the back post. Wilson turned to his bench for answers, with Sean McArdle and Cammy Logan called on to try and bring a bit of dynamism into proceedings. Thistle hogged the ball in the closing moments, turning the screw in hopes of reducing the deficit as Raith sat back and protected their lead. Oisin Smyth was presented with an opportunity in the box a minute before time but dragged his shot wide for a moment which encapsulated the Jags’ woes in front of goal all afternoon as they rarely threatened to lift their Kirkcaldy hoodoo.
 Reaction |
Partick Thistle manager Mark Wilson (speaking to
'The Thistle' 
):
I don’t think it was a good game really to watch if I’m honest. I might see it differently when I look back on it in analysis, but I thought Raith started well and were the better side for about 20 minutes, and we just had to weather the storm a wee bit. I thought we gained good control, we had our opportunities, we worked it into good areas. We were patient and it seemed much more like ourselves. And that was the message at half-time, just keep that pattern going, because I thought at that time we were in the ascendancy and I thought Raith were struggling to get really near us at that point. And then you lose a goal. I said to the guys there, goals change games of course, and it was just disappointing, the nature of it. It was a bouncing ball practically on the touchline. And we try and lock teams in, as all teams do, on one side and we allow it to come out the other side too easy. Easton scores it and I think he’ll even admit it’s not his cleanest strike. It just kind of bobbles in and goes through Luke McBeth’s legs and goes into the middle of the goal. So a really, really poor goal. And then the second one, two of our players run into each other, I think Kyle [Turner] and Ts’oanelo [Lets’osa], and that leads to the corner. So those wee things just didn’t fall for us today. But I’m pleased with the boys and how they still tried to go about it the right way. We were still trying to drag Raith from side to side, we just didn’t have that penetration in the second half or enough. We weren’t putting them under any real pressure in their penalty box and that was probably the disappointing thing because we’ve been pretty good at that this season.
Rovers manager Barry Robson (speaking to
The Courier ):
It was important to get the points on the board today. It was good to see the fans cheering. That’s pleasing. There are periods, especially against teams in this league, where you can lose a couple of games. We had some really tough games and then we had a team [Thistle] that’s joint top today. But I thought the boys were excellent. In the second-half, we started the game really well again and we got our goals. After that, we were smart. We just said, ‘what can you do now? We’ve got our goals’. We said, ‘go and try and break us down for the last 10, 15 minutes’. I thought we did that well.
Jack Hamilton
Jai Rowe
magnifiable if deemed necessary by your browser
