 Media report |
Partick Thistle put on a scintillating performance as they defeated Livingston 2-0 in their Scottish Championship encounter at the newly christened WrightKerr Stadium at Firhill on Friday night. There were three changes to the starting XI from the previous Saturday’s 1-0 win against Greenock Morton at Cappielow with Seb Drozd, Alex Samuel and Ben McPherson all coming in for Gary Mackay-Steven, Tony Watt and Cammy Logan. Ethan Ingram missed out due to a head knock sustained in Inverclyde, but the bench was bolstered by Ben Dempsey’s first appearance on a Thistle team sheet and the return of Ben Stanway, who signed a new one-year deal with the club last week. The Thistle Ultras greeted the side as they entered the field with another of their innovative tifo displays, this time emblazoned with the credo “You have a choice in this city, choose wisely”.
It didn’t take long for the deadlock to be broken, with the Jags opening the scoring on the three-minute mark. Some exquisite play down the right-hand side from Drozd and McPherson saw the latter pass towards Crawford near the penalty spot, with his back to the goal. Instead of trying to hit it on the spin, Crawford went for an audacious back heel that no one expected, particularly Livi ‘keeper Jerome Prior. With Prior marooned at the other side of the goal, Crawford’s shot trundled over the line to draw first blood for the home side. Livingston’s defence struggled to contain Drozd in the early going, with the dynamic forward causing no end of hassle. Two minutes after the opener, Drozd nearly made it 2-0 with a chance from the edge of the area. He could consider himself unlucky not to, with his chance skipping just wide of the post. On ten minutes, Drozd was at it again, firing a cross into the box that had Livi’s back line scrambling to clear. Thistle were in the mood and threatening on both flanks, with Aidan Fitzpatrick also stirring the pot. The winger picked out Reading with a cutback which was cut out and cleared by Livi defender Mitchell Robertson. The resultant corner was taken short, landing with Fitzpatrick, but his shot was deflected out by a diving Tyrese Sinclair.
Fitzpatrick went close again on 22 minutes when Drozd drilled a cross over to him at the back post, but his header was off target, sailing wide. The following fifteen minutes saw little of note, as Thistle continued to turn the screw, but failed to produce anything to truly threaten Prior in the Livi goal. After offering very little going forward all half, Livingston had a rare chance at goal on 35 minutes when a Dan O’Reilly clearance was intercepted by Scott Pittman on the edge of the area. Pittman had a pop at goal, rattling the crossbar after dipping down, with little to trouble McFarlane in goals. Mark Wilson’s men soon broke forward on the counter, with Fitzpatrick finding Smyth in a dangerous position on 38 minutes, only for the ex-St. Mirren man to be denied by an excellent stop from Prior. A succession of Thistle corners followed, with Livi fighting for their lives at the back to keep the deficit down until the 42nd minute when the Jags doubled their lead. Some more lovely link-up play with Drozd saw Fitzpatrick try and thread home from a tight angle, only for the ball to take a handy deflection off Livi’s Cammy MacPherson as it rolled in for 2-0. It was nothing short of what Thistle deserved following a dominant first half display that saw Livi bring almost nothing to the table, constantly under pressure from the likes of Drozd and Fitzpatrick on the flanks. Half-Time – Partick Thistle 2 Livingston 0.
Livingston manager Glenn Whelan turned to his bench at half time, with Graham Carey hooked in favour of newly signed Dutch import Bradly Van Hoeven. The change seemed to work, with Livi showing more attacking prowess in the opening ten minutes of the second half than they had in the entire first period. Van Hoeven set up Scott Pittman almost straight from the restart, but Pittman ballooned the chance over the bar. Not long after, Oisin Smyth was called upon to header away a Van Hoeven corner. The ball was picked up by Babacar Fati, who crossed into the box for an unmarked Robertson but the centre-half headed well wide. Shortly thereafter the stadium came to its feet in appreciation for Davy Mains, a longtime member of the Partick Thistle family who was a boardroom guest for the game. There was a minute’s applause for Mains in the 46th minute, in tribute of the number 46 given to Mains in the 2015/16 season when he was registered as a squad player, with the Ultras producing their second banner of the night in his honour. The game turned on its head with the introduction of Ben Stanway on the hour, with last year’s Player of the Year receiving a rousing ovation from the Firhill faithful as he replaced goalscorer Crawford. Eight minutes later, Watt and Henderson came on, with Samuel and Fitzpatrick making way. Henderson nearly got on the scoresheet instantly, driving a low cross across the face of goal which then hit the back post. Soon after, Lets’osa nipped into space as Thistle broke with a deadly counterattack but a sprawling block denied him his second goal in as many league matches. With the three points all but secured, the tempo dropped as Logan replaced McPherson for the last 15 minutes. Neither side threatened in the latter stages, as the Jags eased themselves to the final whistle and a vital three points.
 Reaction |
Thistle manager Mark Wilson spoke to
'The Thistle' 
:
I thought it was as complete a performance as I’ve had in my time here. The intensity was good in the first half, with and without the ball. I thought the way that we shaped up and some of the ideas we gave the guys, how to win the ball back, just played out perfectly. I thought when we won the ball, our two wingers were absolutely electric and just took the game to Livi. We got off and running pretty quickly with a good goal on something that we work on, and after that I don’t think we took our foot off the pedal all night. Drozd was unbelievable. I think last year he was asked to play in a lot of different kinds of roles. I spoke to him this summer, I was pretty specific about what I wanted him to do and how I wanted him to play. He’s been brilliant for us in pre-season. The squad is looking that strong and fit just now, it was either him or Gary [Mackay-Steven] that could have played there last week, but Seb came on and affected the game pretty positively. But tonight I had it in my mind that against this opposition, Seb might have done well. He showed a lot of bravery and he’s a big-game player for us already early into his Partick Thistle career, but some of his stuff and his fitness levels just look so strong and powerful. He can be really pleased with his night's work.
Ben McPherson
Cammy Logan
former Jag
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