 Media report |
Partick Thistle’s Scottish Cup campaign ended at the quarter-final stage following a 2-1 defeat to St Mirren at The SMiSA Stadium. The Jags were dreaming of a first major semi-final in 24 years having most recently made the Scottish Cup last four in 2002 under John Lambie. St Mirren, on the other hand, had much more recent experience of the national stadium having won the Premier Sports Cup earlier this season, beating Celtic 3-1 in the final. There were two changes to the Jags side that had battled Arbroath to a stalemate last Saturday. Oisin Smyth, cup-tied and ineligible to play against his parent club, was replaced in the starting line-up by Ben Stanway while Ben McPherson made his return from a one game injury lay-off to take Luke McBeth’s place in the XI. Cale Loughrey, Ethan Ingram, Fraser Taylor and Matty Falconer were also unable to feature like Smyth while Logan Chalmers missed out due to injury.
It was a frenetic opening to proceedings, with both sides hitting the woodwork within the opening five minutes. Seconds into the game, Thistle found themselves with a corner, which was played short. It made its way to Stanway at the edge of the box, with his effort cracking the base of the post to give Saints an early fright. The home side then counter-punched, with Mark O’Hara ballooning a shot over the bar less than a minute later. On the five-minute mark, Killian Phillips charged into the box to get his head onto a cross from the left, with his attempt clanging off the post before being cleared. From there it was Thistle who pressed, causing the St. Mirren back three significant issues. On 13 minutes, a Paddy Reading corner found its way to the head of Alex Samuel, but his effort was directed safely into the gloves of St. Mirren keeper Shamal George. Sixty seconds later, Lets’osa pickpocketed Alex Gogic at the corner flag but after driving into the box his shot took a deflection on its way to goal and George saved easily.
Thistle continued to perform well in the subsequent quarter of an hour, producing some intricate sequences of passing play without being able to break through the Buddies’ rear-guard. The game was turned on its head on the 30th minute when St. Mirren were awarded a penalty following a VAR review. Robbie Crawford was judged to have handled the ball after blocking a cross, with the ball ricocheting off his leg and hitting his arm as he protected his face. Dan Nlundulu promptly stepped up to send Thistle ‘keeper Josh Clarke the wrong way, putting St. Mirren into the lead in controversial circumstances. With Thistle fans still raging over the VAR decision, Saints grabbed a second in the first half injury time. Paddy Reading was dispossessed by Killian Phillips who touched the ball to the goalscorer Nlundulu. The forward fed the ball to the right for Jake Young who powered a low shot beyond Josh Clarke at the near post – a sucker punch for the visitors a couple of minutes before the interval.
Thistle came out for the second half in need of a response but almost found themselves three down before they could get their foot on the ball. A ball into the box was laid off to Declan John by Nlundulu but the Welshman’s shot found only the side-netting. The momentum quickly shifted in the Jags’ favour though and pressure on the St. Mirren goal began on 48 minutes when Alex Samuel was played through down the inside right channel allowing him to fire a shot across goal which was parried away for a corner by Shamal George. There were howls of protest from the Red and Yellow Army when a St. Mirren defender looked to have blocked a Samuel shot at goal with his hand. Referee Dickinson was unmoved, with no penalty given, and Stanway’s rebound shot was stopped by George. Thistle would continue to plug away with Watt, Fitzpatrick and Ashcroft all trying their luck. Fitzpatrick’s effort sailed over the bar, whilst Ashcroft planted a header straight into the arms of George from six yards out.
The Jags would reduce their deficit on the hour, thanks to Ben Stanway. The 21-year-old found himself with space as a Reading corner made its way to him at the edge of the St Mirren box. Stanway blasted a volley into the bottom corner to give the team and the sizeable travelling support genuine belief that a comeback was possible. Thistle cranked up the intensity as they went on the hunt for an equaliser. Robbie Crawford looked to have a golden opportunity two minutes after but was only able to stab his angled shot into the side-netting. The last quarter of an hour saw Mark Wilson roll the dice with Kyle Turner and Ricco Diack coming on for Lets’osa and Crawford in an attempt to find some more attacking edge. The Jags did apply some heat to the Saints from then on, but it failed to produce anything tangible to really test the mettle of George in the St Mirren goal. That was until stoppage time, when they were presented with two good opportunities in the box. First, McPherson flashed his shot wide then, with seconds to go, Fitzpatrick spooned a shot over the bar as Thistle’s Scottish Cup campaign concluded in Paisley.
 Reaction |
Thistle manager Mark Wilson (speaking to the BBC):
I'm incredibly proud. I thought we were terrific from minute one. We were going along pretty nicely in the game and then a decision I just can't get my head round. I am being told at half-time that the rules have slightly changed from the fourth official. The ball hits Crawford's foot on to his hand and his hand's tucked in. For a penalty kick, I thought, if it came off one part of your body and hit your hand, it wasn't a penalty. If they are telling me the rules have changed, they should make that clearer.
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson (speaking to the BBC):
If you're going to win a cup, you have to beat Celtic or Rangers at some stage - so why not? There's a belief that we can do it. We need to be the best version of ourselves, that we haven't been in recent weeks. We found a way to win tonight. We have an opportunity to go to Hampden, which for this football club is incredible. We've got injuries galore. Marcus Fraser is out for eight weeks, Mika Mandron is out for six or eight weeks and Kion Etete got injured in the warm-up - so we had no strikers to bring on. But we found a way.
Declan John
Scott Tanser
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