 Media report |
Partick Thistle suffered a setback in their quest to claim the Championship crown, after sharing the points in a 1-1 draw against Ayr United at Somerset Park. The Jags came into the game with the league title race on a razor’s edge. The gap at the top was down to just three points after St. Johnstone’s draw with Queen’s Park albeit the Saints harboured a far superior goal difference. With Simo Valakari’s team facing a tough test away to Arbroath in the midst of Storm Dave, Thistle knew a win would either bring them closer to the second tier summit or strengthen their grip on second place. Ayr United were embarking on a new era, after the dismissal of Scott Brown as manager on Monday. John Rankin, last at Hamilton Accies, took charge, hoping to steady the ship after a torrid run with no wins in their last eight games. There were two changes to the line-up that started Thistle’s 3-1 victory over Ross County at Firhill a week prior. Josh Clarke returned to the line-up, having missed the last two games whilst on international duty with Northern Ireland, replacing Lewis Budinauckas. Fraser Taylor made his first start for the Jags, after impressing in his cameo appearance against the Staggies. Ayr United suffered a setback pre-game, with Leon King picking up an injury in the warm up, and Shaun Want taking his place in the starting XI.
Unlike our other tangles with Ayr this season when Brown was in charge, this was a far more subdued opening period. It was cagey, with little to write home about early on, as neither side wanted to make a mistake. The only noteworthy moment of the opening ten came on the five-minute mark. Marco Rus received an early booking after bundling down Alex Samuel on the edge of the box. Taylor’s resultant free kick was cleared, but Thistle kept pushing. The ball soon came to Robbie Crawford, but he was unable to get anything on it as the ball ambled out for a goal kick. Ayr had the best opportunity of the game to that point on 17 minutes. A corner from Kyle Ure was swung into danger at the back post. The ball was headed back across goal into the path of a stretched Thistle defender who hurriedly knocked the ball clear to save the Jags’ bacon. The game then became a blood-and-thunder affair as the tackles started flying in on the slip-sliding surface, with Robbie Crawford and Ben Dempsey both earning yellow cards for their respective sides. Former Thistle stalwart Stuart Bannigan was next into the book, after a reckless tackle on Ethan Ingram. Referee Ross Hardie played advantage as Ayr launched a counterattack. Some quick thinking from Lee Ashcroft saw the threat neutralised, with Hardie then awarding Bannigan his ninth yellow card of the season. From there, the first half petered out, with little in the way of clear-cut chances. The only other notable chance of the first 45 minutes fell Ayr’s way, with the Honest Men directing another set piece to the back post on 35 minutes. Yet again, the ball was headed across goal, with Thistle getting rid of the ball before Kevin Holt could latch onto it and have a shot at goal. As the last ten minutes of the half dragged along, things were far more lively elsewhere, with Arbroath taking the lead against St Johnstone, before Saints pegged them back shortly before the interval.
Mark Wilson made a change at the break, with Cale Loughrey coming on for Dan O’Reilly. The game sparked into life after the restart, with Thistle carving out a good chance two minutes into the second half. Ingram skated his way through a series of challengers, only to be taken out by Holt though the advantage was played as McPherson picked up the ball. He crossed the ball towards Aidan Fitzpatrick, who pulled off a first-time volley, but it sailed well wide. Moments later, a Thistle corner saw Fitzpatrick thread the ball to the feet of Stanway inside the area. Stanway unleashed a curling shot towards the far corner, only to be denied by an excellent save from former Thistle ‘keeper David Mitchell. A few minutes after, Ayr looked destined to open the scoring after a neat counterattack saw Anton Dowds in shooting position six yards out, with the net at his mercy. Somehow, Dowds contrived to miss his effort, shanking the ball wide. On the hour, Lee Ashcroft was given his marching orders, following a foul on Dowds at the edge of the Jags box. After a booking in the first half, Ashcroft received a second yellow from referee Hardie, with Stanway taking the captain’s armband in his absence. The subsequent set piece was defended initially, before a low cross flew across the face of the Thistle goal. Despite the enticing effort which needed a mere touch to send it goalwards, no Ayr player took the opportunity up as the chance went begging. Both sides turned to the bench to try and jus up their attacking line. Ts’oanelo Lets’osa came on for Robbie Crawford, whilst Jamie Murphy came on for Ayr, as both sides turned up the heat in an effort to break the deadlock. Ayr looked the more dangerous, with Ben Summers forcing Josh Clarke into a desperate save to keep the score level on 62 minutes. Ethan Ingram then pulled off some goal line heroics to keep out an effort from Rus not long after.
For all Ayr’s pressure, though, it would be Thistle who opened the scoring on the 68th minute. A Taylor corner evaded Mitchell’s grasp and slinked its way to the back post where Cale Loughrey was on hand to fire home and give Thistle the lead against the run of play. The lead was short-lived though, as Ayr were handed a gilt-edged chance to level soon after. Five minutes after putting the Jags ahead, Loughrey was once again at the centre of things, grappling with Dowds in the box as Ayr took a throw in. When Dowds fell to the deck, referee Hardie instantly pointed to spot and brandished a yellow card for Thistle’s Canadian defender. Murphy stepped up to take the kick and calmly fired it past Josh Clarke despite the Thistle goalkeeper going the right way. The game became more edgy, as word came through that St. Johnstone had taken the lead at Gayfield, forcing Thistle to press the issue. Marco Rus had two good opportunities to win it for Ayr. First, he shot wide from 15 yards out with the whole goal to aim for. Then, not long after, he had a chance to shoot but limply hit his shot straight into the arms of Clarke. Alex Samuel had a speculative effort at a tight angle, almost threading home a winner at Mitchell’s near post, but he was unsuccessful, as it was bundled wide and the game remained level. The final moments were defined by a series of corners for both sides that could have seen either claim the win had they played their cards right. Unfortunately, neither could produce that winning moment, with the Jags being forced to dig deep and show their defensive grit, as the game finished all square. St Johnstone’s 4-2 comeback win over Arbroath at Gayfield sees them stretch the gap at the top to five points with four games to go. That result also means Arbroath can no longer catch Thistle and if Dunfermline fail to beat Ayr United in midweek, a top two finish will be confirmed for the Maryhill Men.
 Reaction |
Thistle manager Mark Wilson spoke to the press, transcribed via
'The Thistle' 
:
If you’re going to give that as a penalty, which he did, you’ve got to give the other one with Ricco [Diack]. We’ve seen both of them and to be honest, I think the two of them are so soft and it’s a shame. Of course, Ayr created probably the better chances throughout and missed a couple of real sitters, and sometimes you need to ride your luck. But when we get ahead, then you’re just looking for a decision like that not to happen. So, incredibly frustrated, but pleased with how the boys went about it after Ashy [Lee Ashcroft] got sent off. Getting a point here isn’t the worst result. On the road again, another game without a defeat. That’s so positive, especially when you get into 10 men so early into the second half. I don’t think we were at our best by a long shot. It just didn’t quite click for us today. When you take it all into consideration, it’s a good point. We obviously kept two up top to try and win the game for as long as possible. And we maybe changed it at the end, just in case we needed to defend our box. But no, a point is not a bad result at all in the wider context. We’ll keep chipping away. There are games to go and twists and turns hopefully. I said at the start of the game, we’re loving this season - loving every minute of it. Even when we don’t play well, there’s always drama somewhere, there’s always some good to take away from it. I’m really fortunate to be with this group of players. I think it just shows the spirit in the group when you have to make so many adjustments, everybody digs in for each other. It’s a good spirit to have and a good team to play in. We’ll keep going until it is mathematically impossible.
Kyle Ure
Jamie Murphy
