 Media report |
Partick Thistle confirmed a minimum second placed finish in this season’s Scottish Championship following a 2-0 victory over Dunfermline Athletic at The Wyre Stadium at Firhill on Saturday. The Jags knew a result of any kind would secure a place in the top two but also had an eye on things happening at McDiarmid Park where league leaders St. Johnstone hosted Airdrieonians. Fourth-placed Dunfermline came to Maryhill with next week’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Falkirk in the back of their minds although a promotion play-off position in the league was not yet confirmed after a Friday night win for Queen’s Park against Ross County. There were two changes to the Thistle starting XI from the game at Somerset Park seven days prior. Luke McBeth deputised for the suspended Lee Ashcroft while Robbie Crawford dropped to the bench, replaced by Ts’oanelo Lets’osa. The Jags were given a considerable boost in squad depth, with Tony Watt, Oisin Smyth and Logan Chalmers all returning from injury ahead of schedule on the bench.
It was all Thistle in the early goings, with Aidan Fitzpatrick and Ben McPherson causing Dunfermline’s full backs no end of hassle as they bombed up and down the wings. The first chance of the game came on four minutes, when a cross from McPherson found its way past the Dunfermline defenders right into the path of Alex Samuel. However, the Welshman’s header was off target, going just wide. On 17 minutes, the Firhill faithful were on their feet – howling for a penalty after Freddie Turley seemed to handle the ball in the box, blocking a pass heading towards Aidan Fitzpatrick. Referee Kevin Clancy, however, was unmoved by the protestations, waving play on. Thistle wouldn’t dwell on the decision though, taking the lead 60 seconds later. Samuel held the ball up in the box and laid it off to Ben Stanway whose shot was blocked by Kieran Ngwenya. The ball ballooned out to the edge of the box where Samuel was on hand once again to control over his shoulder and rifle a low shot past Aston Oxborough at the goalkeeper’s near post. Four minutes later, the Maryhill Men doubled their lead. Fitzpatrick was released down the left flank by an inch-perfect Josh Clarke pass which just evaded the reach of the defender Turley. The Dunfermline man then tried to recover and caught Fitzpatrick just outside the box but Thistle’s winger stayed on his feet and squared the ball to Alex Samuel who had the simplest of finishes to make it 2-0.
Midway through the first half, there was a round of applause from both sides for the Thistle Ultras and their clear response to the vandalism and racist graffiti discovered following the KDM Evolution Trophy final on Sunday. The message was clear and simple – “No place for racism at Firhill.” The Jags were in their element for most of the first half, posing problems for the Pars throughout. Oxborough was called into action twice in quick succession with around ten minutes left until the break. First, Fitzpatrick was teed up by Taylor on the left, but his shot went straight at the Pars ‘keeper. Not long after, Samuel had a great opportunity to score Partick Thistle’s first hat trick in three years. However, Oxborough was quickly down to his right to save his low effort. Between those two opportunities, Dunfermline were presented with a gilt-edged chance to reduce the deficit. After carving out an opening down the left, Matthew Todd burst into the box and played a ball across the face of goal. John Tod was close by, lunging at the ball in the six-yard area, but he couldn’t make any contact as it trundled away for a goal kick. Moments before half time, there was a scare for Thistle as Aidan Fitzpatrick pulled up with a knee issue. Despite initial concerns, he was given a once over by the physio and managed to shake it off as Thistle took a 2-0 lead down the tunnel at half-time.
The second half saw Dunfermline find more of a foothold in the early stages after switching to a back four. The Jags backline remained resolute, suffocating the Pars attack as the tempo dropped down. Around the hour mark, Oisin Smyth made his return to action as Fraser Taylor was withdrawn whilst Gary Mackay-Steven made his debut in red and yellow, replacing Ethan Ingram as McPherson returned to his natural position of right back. It should have been three on the sixty-minute mark, as Fitzpatrick hit a miscued an effort from 12 yards out, only for the ball to rebound back to Samuel not once but twice. Both times, Samuel’s attempts were hurriedly cleared off the line as Dunfermline kept the deficit down. On 68 minutes, Samuel came within a hair’s breadth of grabbing his third. Fitzpatrick, once again, dazzled down the wing before sending an enticing ball across the face of goal. However, despite a stretching Samuel’s best efforts, the ball evaded him and went begging. The final twenty minutes saw little in the way of incident, as Crawford, Watt and Chalmers joined the fray. Chalmers’ substitution saw Aidan Fitzpatrick come off, with a standing ovation from those in attendance at Firhill for the 25-year-old. Dunfermline tried to turn up the intensity late on to little effect, as Thistle held firm to secure a comfortable three points. St Johnstone’s 4-0 win over Airdrieonians saw the gap remain at five points with three games of the season to go and the beaten Diamonds will be Thistle’s next opponents as Mark Wilson’s men head to the Albert Bartlett Stadium next weekend.
 Reaction |
Thistle manager Mark Wilson spoke to the press, transcribed via
'The Thistle' 
:
It’s not often things go to plan as well as that. I think when you’re trying to pre-plan things… I said to Alex [Rae] in the office before it, ‘Here’s the plan, here’s what we’re looking to do in terms of the game plan, here’s how we’re looking to play a wee bit longer. But ideally if we can get comfortable in the game and go a couple up, we can bring on these boys who we know are fit but need minutes going into these important games. And if we can get Gaz [Mackay-Steven] involved because he’s trained well’. And there you go, it just played out in front of us. Obviously in the second half, we came off it a wee bit and I think Dunfermline, with the changes they made, made them stronger and harder to play against. But in saying that, Alex Samuel and Fitzy could have probably put the game well out of sight. So another great three points against a team who are difficult to play against, and it just keeps us rolling on to the next week. It was an important win and I don’t want anybody - us, our players or anybody associated with the club - to take wins like that for granted because they are hard to come by. You have to deal with the conditions, you have to deal with how Dunfermline press you. And we work on it relentlessly. And that long ball from Dan O’Reilly to Fitzy, it’s just not a coincidence. You work on that consistently over the week and it plays out, and it’s great.
Pars manager Neil Lennon (speaking to Dunfermline Press):
I apologise to the fans, maybe, but I told everyone what our thinking is for the next couple of games, so, that's not going to change. It'll be a changed team again on Tuesday as well. I make no apologies for that. It's not just about the semi-final. It's about what's coming after that as well. Look, we didn't expect to win the game today. We didn't play well first half, I thought we were better second half, but it's not really at my forefront today. It's more about next weekend. It's the biggest game the club's had for a long, long time, so, we have to protect the players. We've had a lot of games recently, and I've got to do what's best for the squad.
Ethan Ingram
Oisin Smyth
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