 Media report |
Partick Thistle were eliminated from the KDM Evolution Trophy following a penalty shootout defeat to Inverness Caledonian Thistle at the Wyre Stadium at Firhill tonight. It was the second game in the Jags’ Challenge Cup campaign, having come from behind to defeat Cove Rangers in the last 32 a month prior. Mark Wilson opted for wholesale changes, with eight players switched out from Friday’s 2-0 defeat to Ross County up at Dingwall. Aidan Fitzpatrick took to the pitch for his 200th game in red and yellow, while Liam Dolan and Matthew Falconer made their first starts for the Jags. Also on the bench, new signing Cale Loughrey was slotted straight into the matchday squad having signed from Hamilton Academical earlier in the day.
It was an energetic start to proceedings, with Chalmers presenting the Jags with their first opportunity of the game on four minutes, beating his man down the right hand side and drilling in a low cross that had Caley scrambling to clear. Thistle opened the scoring on 12 minutes when Cammy Logan threaded a pass through to Logan Chalmers, who jinked his way past multiple challengers, teeing himself up to strike into the bottom corner. It looked like Thistle were on easy street four minutes later when Alex Samuel was played through before being tripped in the box, with the referee awarding a spot kick. Unfortunately, Turner’s penalty to the keeper’s right was well saved by Caley keeper Ross Munro, with Turner unable to turn the rebound in. The Jags should have been clear out of sight in the first twenty minutes, but were made to rue their missed chances when Inverness equalised on 22 minutes. Liam Sole fired a cross from the right hand side onto the head of Oscar MacIntyre, who nodded home to restore parity.
First time starter Falconer looked to get the Jags back into the lead, getting himself into promising positions more than once, but was unable to make the most of his opportunities. First, he was hauled down at the edge of the box, with no penalty given and the moments later he found himself in space at the edge of the Inverness box with his left-footed volley sailing clear of the bar. Kyle Turner then had a guilt-edged chance to restore his sides’ lead when Aidan Fitzpatrick laid the ball back for a clear shot at goal from 10 yards out but the midfielder lifted his effort over the top. Eight minutes before half time, Inverness took the lead. A high ball into the box was flicked on deftly by Alfie Bavidge to Billy McKay who had plenty of time and spcae to size up his options and reverse a shot into the bottom right corner. After dominating in the first twenty minutes, Thistle were left wishing they had taken advantage before Inverness got a foothold in the game and the teams went down the tunnel at half-time with the visitors a goal to the good.
At half time, Mark Wilson made two changes with Falconer and Dolan making way for Tony Watt and the debuting Cale Loughrey. Inverness would have the ball in the net four minutes after the restart as an Alfie Stewart free-kick picked out Mitchell Robertson in the box. The central defender produced a controlled finish to beat Lewis Budinauckas but turned around to see the assistant referee’s flag. Cometh the hour, cometh the man though for Thistle, as Aidan Fitzpatrick shepherded the ball along the byline, before cutting it back for Cale Loughrey to slam home on 60 minutes, becoming a member of the PTFC Goalscoring Debutants club. Sixty seconds later, Thistle were in front. A loose pass in the Inverness defence was pounced on by Alex Samuel, who got to it before ‘keeper Munro and squeezed it under the ‘stopper to put the Jags in front. The Maryhill Men tried, to no avail, to put the game beyond doubt, with Chalmers and then Watt both shooting marginally wide from the edge of the box.
Seven minutes from time the away side made Thistle pay for not killing the game off as they found an equaliser. The impressive Liam Sole swung a cross in from the right flank which picked out Billy McKay at the back post and the veteran frontman made no mistake from close range to level the scores. With the game all square after 90 minutes, the sides headed to a penalty shootout. Logan Chalmers and Paul Allan both successfully converted their team’s first penalty kicks before Kyle Turner missed his second penalty of the day. Chanka Zimba fired home to give Inverness an advantage which was furthered when Luke McBeth saw his kick saved. Billy McKay followed that by finding the back of the net to put the Jags on the brink of elimination. Aidan Fitzpatrick was able to delay the inevitable by sending Ross Munro the wrong way but David Wotherspoon then stepped up to convert the decisive penalty and confirm Thistle’s exit.
 Reaction |
Thistle manager Mark Wilson speaking to
'The Thistle' 
:
If you lose three goals at home, you deserve not to progress in any competition. So, you know, hugely disappointing in terms of how we defended those moments in the box. Obviously, Inverness are a good possession team and they work the ball well, so we were well aware of that. I said to the guys before the game that they will be as good and as competitive as any Championship team they face, so approach it right. But you can’t defend the box the way we have done for three of those goals and expect to progress in a tournament. We looked comfortable when we were 1-0 up and it could have went two, three, whatever, and you’re thinking it’s a really good performance, and then you miss a penalty. Things change, the mentality changes a wee bit. But when you look at some of the goals, there’s so many points within the first, second and third goal that you just stop it and say ‘It’s just not like us’. How we pressed, how we allowed the ball into our box and then a free tap-in for Billy Mckay at the back post, as simple as you like, for the third one. So that’s what disappoints me and frustrates me. Look, there was a whole lot of good stuff in terms of attacking and going forward and the changes worked, obviously, but you just don’t give yourself a chance if you concede goals like that.
Liam Dolan
Ricco Diack
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