 Media report |
Partick Thistle were dealt a critical blow in the second tier title race as they drew 2-2 away to Airdrieonians in the Scottish Championship this afternoon. With St. Johnstone set to play twice before the Jags’ next fixture, the Maryhill Men were seeking a win that would cut the gap at the top of the table to two points and transfer pressure onto the shoulders of the Perthshire Saints. By contrast, Airdrieonians hoped for a decisive result in their bid to avoid automatic relegation with a three point buffer between them and bottom club Ross County ahead of the match. There were two changes to the side that overcame Dunfermline 2-0 last Saturday; with captain Lee Ashcroft returning to the fold in place of Luke McBeth while Oisin Smyth deputised for Ben Stanway who missed out through illness.
Despite the gap in league places, it was the home side who started the brighter of the two on a wet and windy day in North Lanarkshire. It was one way traffic in the opening moments, as the Diamonds pushed hard to break the deadlock. Euan Henderson looked destined to open the scoring on three minutes after Ashcroft failed to intercept a pass from the right wing but the Diamonds’ top scorer took too long to get his shot away and Thistle’s skipper recovered to make a block. Thistle cleared the resultant corner, but only so far as Scott Constable on the edge of the area. Constable hit it first time, but his low drive went just wide of Josh Clarke’s near post. Seconds later, Dom Thomas also dragged an effort wide as Airdrie probed in the early exchanges. Thistle soon felt their way into things and Oisin Smyth was at the centre of the most clear-cut chance yet for the visitors on 19 minutes. The Northern Irishman claimed a loose ball in the middle of the park, threading a ball through for his fellow St Mirren loanee Fraser Taylor in space just outside of the box. Taylor hit a shot on the spin, cracking it off Airdrie ‘keeper Harry Stone’s left-hand post as the score remained goalless.
On the half hour mark, Ethan Ingram threaded a splendid through-ball into the path of an onrushing Ben McPherson. The 22-year-old raced through on goal and found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper but ex-Jags loanee Harry Stone was out quickly to block with his legs before it was put behind for a corner. Airdrieonians made the breakthrough on 36 minutes, with a goal from Chris Mochrie. Mochrie rocketed a shot from the edge of the area that Josh Clarke was powerless to stop, deflecting off a Thistle body and ricocheting off the underside of the crossbar on its way in. Airdrie saw out the half, stifling Thistle at all turns as Mark Wilson’s men were slack in possession. Not long before the half time whistle, Dan O’Reilly found himself with a rare opportunity in front of goal, but his long-range effort was always on the rise, clearing the crossbar. Soon after, Samuel managed to slip the ball in for Fitzpatrick on the left after some nice one-two play, but the winger hesitated too long as his shot was blocked, spinning safely into the arms of Stone as the hosts went down the tunnel ahead at the interval.
Mark Wilson turned to his bench at half-time with Tony Watt and Gary Mackay-Steven replacing Ts’oanelo Lets’osa and Ben McPherson as the Jags reverted to a flat 4-4-2. Thistle came out brightly after the restart and a lovely ball from Oisin Smyth into the box found its way to Alex Samuel but the Welshman was off target as his shot deflected behind for a corner. The resultant set piece led to a bizarre Jags equaliser. A short corner found its way back to the taker Fraser Taylor, who hit a low cross into the mixer. The ball rootled around the box as several Jags players tried to get something on it, only for an Airdrie defender to desperately boot the ball away from danger. His clearance, though, rebounded straight off the Diamonds’ goalscorer Chris Mochrie and into the corner of the net. A second goal for the away side quickly followed and it was Aidan Fitzpatrick who got Thistle’s noses in front. Samuel won a loose ball in the Airdrieonians half and fed the ball to Tony Watt who then played it on to Fitzpatrick in space on the left side of the box and the wideman powered a shot beyond Harry Stone at the near post to make it 2-1. Airdrie responded well to going behind, throwing men forward in search of a leveller. Within seconds of going behind, the Diamonds were unlucky not to score after a dangerous cross into the box eluded the Jags defence, with no one in white and red on hand to guide the ball into the net. Thistle were made to sweat at a series of threatening corners in quick succession as Airdrie turned the screw. Etham Ingram was the goalmouth saviour in the most dangerous moment of the sequence as he nodded a Charlie McArthur header over the bar at close range. Moments after, Clarke was called into action to deal with a Dom Thomas strike from range, doing well to tip his shot over the bar.
At the other end, Thistle almost countered to great effect but Aidan Fitzpatrick was scythed down by Airdrie’s last man Jamie Barjonas as he raced down the pitch. Fitzpatrick’s last touch before being upended was heading wide which saved Barjonas from a more severe punishment than the yellow card he received. As the game rumbled on, Thistle went to their bench again as Robbie Crawford, Ricco Diack and Logan Chalmers came on to replace Fraser Taylor, Alex Samuel and Aidan Fitzpatrick. There were plenty more yellow cards too and the most significant one saw Dan O’Reilly pick up his 12th of the league season meaning he will miss the final two games of the Championship season through suspension. Chalmers had a chance to wrap up the points in the final five minutes as Ricco Diack teed him up for a shot from 15 yards out but his left-footed effort flashed wide of the far post. In the end, Airdrie found their equaliser and it came after Thistle felt they should have had a free-kick for a challenge on Oisin Smyth deep in Diamonds territory. Nothing was given by referee Callum Scott and the home side were quickly back on the attack, earning a throw-in on the left flank. Lewis Strapp hoisted the ball into the danger area and it eventually made its way to Aaron Reid who shifted onto his left foot and fired the ball into the six-yard box where Lewis McGrattan was on hand to touch home, earning a potentially crucial point for Airdrieonians. That late blow for the Jags means they are four points behind league leaders St. Johnstone who can now win the Championship title before Thistle play next if they win against Dunfermline Athletic on Tuesday or Raith Rovers on Friday.
 Reaction |
Thistle manager Mark Wilson spoke to the press, transcribed via
'The Thistle' 
:
It was a wee bit of a punch in the gut at the end when you lose a goal in the fashion we did so late on. It was end-to-end first half, a wee bit scrappy here and there. I thought we had chances, and obviously their goal, a bit fortuitous off Ashy [Lee Ashcroft’s] back. We changed it and I thought we were better, better reaction, a good introduction for Gaz [Mackay-Steven] and Tony [Watt]. We just needed to close the game out. I thought when we had the chance with Logan [Chalmers], that would have been curtains and three points. But we just didn’t defend that last entry into the box well enough. Players are desperate to do well and I thought we just overcrowded one area too much, left another area bare and that’s where they scored. I think we’re still in good form, in a good place, if we do land in the play-offs. That consistency has served us well all season, and it’s not going to change for the remaining weeks of the season.
Airdrie manager Aaron Taylor-Sinclair (speaking to the Daily Record):
We’ve played so well, and then you obviously get the goal and we panic. That’s when you want and you need your leaders and you need people to step up. But credit to the boys coming back because it could have been easier just to roll over. But getting the goal might prove to be a massive point for us. We’ve created a lot of chances. It’s six on target. So we know we’ve got the players to create chances, but you get into the end of the game and it’s like, when’s that going to come? But, thankfully, it did for us. I think that over the piece we definitely deserved a point, you could even argue the three points. It was deja vu from last Tuesday [a 2-2 draw with Dunfermline]. Credit to Partick. We’ve dominated that first half, so they needed to change their shape. Tony Watt comes on and they go to a 4-4-2. We needed to make a tactical change. So that was just to for us to match them up. We went into a diamond, which proved to be good for us at the start of my rein. Players are comfortable in that shape.
Scott Constable
Gavin Gallagher
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