 Media report |
Partick Thistle were forced to settle for a point at the Wyre Stadium at Firhill on Saturday, with a goalless draw against Raith Rovers. There were seven changes to the side which defeated Cove Rangers on Tuesday to advance to the last 16 of the KDM Evolution Trophy. Josh Clarke reclaimed his spot in goal from Lewis Budinauckas, while Ben McPherson and captain Lee Ashcroft returned in defence at the expense of Cammy Logan and Luke McBeth. Oisin Smyth and Ts’oanelo Lets’osa came into midfield in place of Ben Stanway and Scott Martin, while Tony Watt led the line up front again, as Alex Samuel dropped to the bench.
Raith took control in the early going, making effective use of the wide Firhill pitch, squeezing the Thistle backline, but Wilson’s men remained stout in defence. Thistle started to feel their way into the game, as things became more end-to-end, but both sides lacked that little bit of quality needed to break the deadlock. Thistle’s best chance of the opening period saw Logan Chalmers square the ball to Lets’osa in the box. T’s shot looked destined for goal, but it was blocked by a Raith defender. The ball then fell to Aidan Fitzpatrick on the edge of the box. Fitzpatrick aimed for the far corner of the net, but the ball dragged wide. Dylan Easton was causing significant issues for the Jags, finding pockets of space throughout the half as well as creating danger from set pieces. Despite this, Raith failed to trouble Thistle keeper Josh Clarke much. Raith suffered a blow on 28 minutes when defender Paul Hanlon took a nasty head knock, staying down for several minutes to receive treatment, before being replaced by Josh Mullin. The tempo increased in the closing stages of the first half. Raith switched to a more direct style, hitting hard with the high press, but leaving themselves exposed at the back. Thistle, however, were unable to capitalise as the half ended goalless.
Mark Wilson’s emerged from the tunnel for the second half energised, and took it to Raith in the early moments. Fitzpatrick was played in behind seconds after the restart, but Raith were able to hastily clear the ball away to preserve parity. Ashcroft looked to open the scoring from the resultant corner, but his header sailed wide. Thistle piled on the pressure in search of an opening goal, with Kyle Turner finding himself in space at an angle after a lovely pass from Fitzpatrick, but Raith keeper Josh Rae was able to get himself down to the shot at the near post. As the game wore on, it became more and more foul tempered, with tensions boiling over following a late challenge from Smyth which drew the ire of the travelling Raith support situated right in front of the tackle. Mayhem broke out as all 22 men descended on the incident to engage in a bit of argy-bargy, as Smyth, Tony Watt and Raith’s Mullin all entered the book. It would soon come back to bite Mullin, who moments later clattered into McPherson with a recklessly late tackle, forcing the referee’s hand as he brandished a second yellow and reduced to 10 men. Wilson decided to try and capitalise on the sending off, switching to a 4-4-2, with Chalmers and Fitzpatrick changing wings and Alex Samuel coming on for Kyle Turner, partnering Watt up front.
Dougie Imrie decided to slow the game down, stifling the game at all opportunities to prevent Thistle from exploiting the man advantage. It undeniably worked, as it took more than fifteen minutes for the Jags to register their next a shot at goal, a speculative long range effort from Lets’osa that did little to trouble the Raith goalmouth. A scramble in the box saw Ashcroft come close with a header after Rae flapped at a corner kick, but the Thistle captain’s header sailed over the bar, like most efforts from both sides in the game. Raith battened down the hatches as Thistle continued to come forward in the dying moments. However, the only real chance came deep in stoppage time, with Rae doing well to parry away Smyth’s free kick seconds before the final whistle, as the game ended in a stalemate. St Johnstone’s victory over Greenock Morton sees the margin at the top grow to five points, but Thistle will hope to bounce back with all three points when they return to action in the Glasgow Derby next Saturday at Lesser Hampden.
 Reaction |
Partick Thistle manager Mark Wilson (speaking to the media c/o
'The Thistle' 
):
I was frustrated with the way the game went. It was competitive in the first half, really scrappy, and I don’t think we were anywhere near the levels that we have been this season. A lot of indecision in there in possession, a lot of indecision out of possession, that just allowed Raith to get a real foothold in the game. So they were probably the better team. We had a chat about it at half-time, and I thought we started better in the second half. We were a wee a bit more like ourselves, actually made them defend their goal or defend their final third, which is something we’ve been good at all season. And then it just turned into a bit of a scrap and a mess. They go down to ten men and I don’t think we probably worked the ball well enough to build any sustained attacks. You get a team that’s down to ten men at home on this big pitch with the players that we had on the pitch, we’ve got to capitalise. So I’m frustrated today and so are all the players by the way. They’ve done great this season. They’ve exceeded themselves in terms of their performance levels and today I thought we just fell below the standard we’ve set.
Ben McPherson
Cammy Logan
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