30th Jan 2026 St Johnstone 2 Partick Thistle 2 (SPFL Championship)

matches:2025-26: ← 36game 3738 →

	Simo Valakari	Mark Wilson	41y, 7m, 25d

		Robbie Crawford
		Logan Chalmers

Alfredo Agyeman (1-1, 48‎ mins); ‎Josh McPake (1-2, 66‎ mins)		Oisin Smyth (1-0, 42 mins); Oisin Smyth (2-2, pen 90+6 mins)‎
none (1-1, 48‎ mins); ‎Jamie Gullan (1-2, 66‎ mins)		Tony Watt (1-0, 42 mins); none (2-2, pen 90+6 mins)‎
Bozo Mikulic; Adam Forrester; Jack Baird; Josh Fowler; Cheick Diabate		Luke McBeth; Ben McPherson; Daniel O'Reilly; Lee Ashcroft

Sam Stanton (Josh Fowler, HT); Božo Mikulić (Jack Baird, 74 mins); Josh McPake (Kai Fotheringham, 79 mins); Jamie Gullan (Victor Griffith, 89 mins)		Paddy Reading (Cale Loughrey, 59 mins); Robbie Crawford (Kyle Turner, 67 mins); Ben Stanway (Fraser Taylor, 71 mins); Luke McBeth (Logan Chalmers, 73 mins)

	Toby Steward	Josh Clarke	21y, 6m, 2d
	Adam Forrester	Ben McPherson	21y, 10m, 11d
	Morgan Boyes	Paddy Reading	26y, 8m, 1d
	Cheick Diabate	Daniel O'Reilly	30y, 9m, 19d
	Božo Mikulić	Lee Ashcroft	32y, 5m, 1d
	Jason Holt	Oisin Smyth	25y, 8m, 25d
	Reece McAlear	Luke McBeth	26y, 4m, 21d
	Sam Stanton	Robbie Crawford	31y, 7m, 8d
	Alfredo Agyeman	Alex Samuel	30y, 4m, 10d
	Jamie Gullan	Ben Stanway	21y, 4m, 10d
	Josh McPake	Tony Watt	32y, 1m, 1d

			27y, 4m, 6d

	Ross Sinclair	Lewis Budinauckas	23y, 7m, 11d
	Victor Griffith	Cammy Logan	24y, 0m, 2d
	Josh Fowler	Scott Martin	28y, 9m, 29d
	Matty Foulds	Kyle Turner	28y, 2m, 20d
	Jack Baird	Logan Chalmers	25y, 10m, 6d
	Louis Lloyd	Ricco Diack	20y, 8m, 23d
	Taylor Steven	Aidan Fitzpatrick	24y, 10m, 10d
	Kai Fotheringham	Cale Loughrey	24y, 5m, 26d
	Liam Smith	Fraser Taylor	22y, 11m, 10d

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Originally scheduled for 3.00pm on Saturday 31st January, brought forward for BBC Scotland.

TTA report

1st v 2nd. Thistle shaded the 1st half and Watt made a 70-yd run to set up Smyth (42) for 1-0 at h-t. Saints got back into the game quickly and a deflected shot at a corner beat Clarke (48). Danger man McPake scored his 5th against the Jags this season with a run across the 18-yard box and shot home (66) but a late rally was rewarded when Samuel was fouled and Smyth converted the pen (90+6).

TTA man of the match

The triumphant return of OISIN SMYTH was cemented with a powerhouse performance, calm and determined with a palpable will to win. His support for Tony Watt's amazing 70 yard run was exceptional, as was his strongly taken penalty at the very death. Captainly.

Media report

Craig Vassie, 30-Jan-2026, ptfc.co.uk

Thistle left it late to secure a point away from home against St. Johnstone tonight with Oisin Smyth scoring both goals in a 2-2 draw. Tonight’s game represented one of the biggest of this season’s Championship so far as Mark Wilson’s Jags were faced with the prospect of going top of the table if they could beat Simo Valakari’s side on their own patch. Off the back of a 2-1 win over Ayr United, there was a single change to the first XI for Thistle as Logan Chalmers was replaced by Robbie Crawford, starting for the first time since 4th October. Ts’oanelo Lets’osa remained absent through injury but new loan signing from St. Mirren Fraser Taylor was named among the substitutes. St. Johnstone’s marquee January signing Josh Fowler took a place on the bench having joined from Queen’s Park the day before the match.

Alex Samuel had the first chance of the game in the opening two and a half minutes. Luke McBeth played a superb ball up for Tony Watt and an error in the Saints’ defence gave Alex Samuel a sight of goal from the angle but the Welshman’s effort rippled the side netting. Thistle continued to pile on early pressure when Tony Watt received the ball in the box after some neat build-up play. He shifted onto his right foot but fired straight at Toby Steward who palmed away. St. Johnstone’s first big chance of the game fell after 10 minutes when the ball came to skipper Jason Holt 15 yards out. He took a touch and shot but Dan O’Reilly was quickly out to deflect the shot behind for a corner. A period of control followed for the hosts with more defensive blocks required to keep the league’s top scorers at bay, however, it would be the travelling Jags who would break the deadlock in the 41st minute. After a Saints set-piece was cleared, Tony Watt pinched the ball from Reece McAlear and drove the length of the pitch, evading Jason Holt and entering the home side’s box. He was forced to turn back by a recovering defender but then noticed the arrival of Oisin Smyth to his right, sliding a pass to the Northern Irishman who gladly turned home from eight yards out.

The home side brought recent recruit Josh Fowler on during the interval as Simo Valakari sought a reaction from his team and that’s exactly what he got. Two minutes after the restart, a Jamie Gullan corner wasn’t cleared properly and Alfredo Agyeman struck on the spin, seeing his shot bounce past Josh Clarke thanks to a deflection off of one of the Thistle defenders. St. Johnstone threatened a quickfire second when Adam Forrester let fly from 20 yards out but his attempt was always bending the wrong way as he shot across goal with his right foot. Mark Wilson’s Jags then came close to another go-ahead goal as Tony Watt played Alex Samuel in on the inside-right channel, but Toby Steward got out quickly to smother the forward’s advances as he tried to sneak it past the ‘keeper. Tony Watt pinged a ball over to Alex Samuel who raced onto it. He tried to dribble round the keeper before shooting but Toby Steward put his hands out to prevent a certain goal. Further scoring seemed inevitable as both teams endeavoured to edge in front and the third goal of the game would arrive in the 65th minute with the Perthshire Saints getting it. Unsurprisingly it was the division’s top scorer Josh McPake who got it as he cut in from the left wing before reversing a powerful low shot past Josh Clarke into the near corner to take his seasonal tally to five against Thistle alone.

Seeking an attacking spark, Mark Wilson turned to his bench and introduced Kyle Turner, Logan Chalmers and Fraser Taylor with Taylor on for his debut in Jags’ colours. Those changes led to some renewed threat by the away side as Logan Chalmers had a curling shot across goal headed behind for a corner and Alex Samuel saw a header fly a couple of yards wide of the near post after a cross from the right flank. After than initial substitute-inspired burst, the Saints regained control and looked likely to add a third. Josh Clarke was called into action a couple of times, most notably to deny Alfredo Agyeman with his shoulder when the on-loan Falkirk man rocketed a shot goalward from the right side of the box. The game went into five minutes of added time and when Oisin Smyth saw a shot saved easily by Toby Steward, you’d have been forgiven for thinking the points were staying in Perthshire but the visitors didn’t give in. A ball hooked over the top of the St. Johnstone defence was latched onto by Alex Samuel and with the Thistle number nine sizing up his shot, Cheick Diabate bundled him over requiring referee Sean Murdoch to point to the spot. January hadn’t been a favourable month for the Jags from 12 yards but a new face in the form of Oisin Smyth stepped up for the pressure spot kick. The midfielder smashed the ball forcefully into the bottom right corner leaving the goalkeeper, who guessed correctly, with no chance. The final whistle blew as soon as the game restarted and Thistle claimed a point which over the piece they could have reasonably thought to have deserved. As the spoils were shared, the gap at the Championship summit remains two points with leaders St. Johnstone holding a game in hand on the Maryhill Men.

Reaction

Manager Mark Wilson spoke to 'The Thistle'

I think on the balance of the game, probably the first half we maybe edged it. I thought we defended well, gave up the ball a lot. We kind of carried out the game plan to a tee, but I thought we looked dangerous when we broke up the pitch, created a couple of opportunities and I thought we were deserving of our one-goal lead at half-time. And obviously it’s disappointing when you lose a goal right away, such a scrappy goal, and then I thought the game just turned and they put us under real pressure, which we knew was coming. We were disappointed to lose the second, but we hung in there, battled away, and I thought we got what we deserved in the end. When St Johnstone have got the creative players that they have, and they work up well into the wide areas, we knew the ball was coming in the box time and time again. I thought we’d done well in the first half to nullify [Josh] McPake and close the gaps that they like to exploit to allow him to roll in. Second half, we didn’t quite get that, but anything that came into the box I thought we were really quite comfortable with. And then there are just a couple of scrappy moments and you get undone. But at the other end then, when it was going to the end, we were keeping bodies in the box, just trying to create that element of chaos. On this pitch you never know what can happen and it’s just a simple feed into the box. We were fortunate enough to get the penalty and Oisin [Smyth] steps up and puts it away. I thought if we got beat 2-1 and I was sitting here, I would have said we certainly deserved something from that, so I’m glad we got it in the end.

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