 Media report |
Partick Thistle extended their impressive undefeated streak in the William Hill Championship to 13 games with a cerebral 0-0 draw away to Arbroath. With the title now out of the question for the Jags and a top four spot already guaranteed for the home side, it was a game without much riding on it beyond being a dry run of a potential play-off semi-final match-up. There was mass upheaval in the starting line-up, with seven changes to the XI that kicked off last Saturday’s 2-2 draw away at Airdrieonians. Dan O’Reilly served the first match of his two-game ban, after accumulating his 12th yellow card of the season against the Diamonds, with Cale Loughrey taking his place whilst Cammy Logan replaced Paddy Reading, who was rested. In midfield, Ben Stanway was back after being ill last Saturday, coming in alongside Robbie Crawford in place of Ts’oanelo Lets’osa and Fraser Taylor. Up front, it was an entirely rotated front three with Tony Watt and Logan Chalmers back in the starting line-up for the first time since returning from their respective injuries, while Gary Mackay-Steven came in for his first start of any kind in Thistle colours.
At kick-off there were no signs of the gale force winds that affected the Jags’ last visit to Gayfield with the away side getting the game underway on a sunny day in Angus. The first 10 minutes were bereft of incident, as the much-changed Thistle side felt their way into the game, keeping the ball grounded and showing a more technical side to their game early on while Arbroath attacked down the flanks and looked to put pressure on the travelling defence with crosses and cutbacks into the box. In keeping with that, the first notable chance of the game arrived when Scott Stewart delivered an excellent ball onto the head of Findlay Marshall 12 yards out but the hosts’ top goalscorer couldn’t find the target with his attempt. Not long after, Thistle started to take the game to their opponents, with Chalmers at the centre of things. On 17 minutes, Gary Mackay-Steven was picked out by Watt on the left-hand side. The winger then crossed a ball low to Chalmers at the front post yards out, but the ex-Arbroath loanee – under heavy pressure – flicked the ball wide of goal. At the 25-minute mark, Harry Cochrane tried his luck with a rocket from 30 yards out. Clarke was powerless to do anything about it apart from watch on as it zoomed narrowly wide. With ten minutes left of the opening half, some excellent hold up play from Stanway saw him tee up Chalmers, but the winger’s drilled effort veered wide of McAdams’ right-hand post. Not long before the break, Stanway had a pop at goal himself. His long-range shot stung the palms of McAdams but was never in danger of breaking the deadlock, with the teams heading down the tunnel at half-time level.
There were no changes at half-time from either side, but Thistle came out with a bit more urgency, coming close two minutes after the restart. A quick free kick from Oisin Smyth found its way to Chalmers, who raced in behind the Arbroath defence, going through one-on-one. McAdams managed to get a fingertip to Chalmers’ shot though, tipping it wide of his right-hand post to maintain parity. The subsequent corner was cleared by the Arbroath defence, but only so far as Jags full back Cammy Logan. The defender had a dig, arcing a shot achingly close to the top corner, instead nestling on the roof of the net. The temperature cooled in the second half, with the wind picking up, and the home side started to put Thistle under more sustained pressure. A cross from Stewart across the face of goal looked certain to lead to an Arbroath opener, but no touch was forthcoming from any of the attackers and the ball flew behind for a goal kick. Both sides went to the bench with Gavin Reilly and former Jags defender Aaron Muirhead – booked moments earlier – making way for Arbroath, replaced by his fellow ex-Jag Scott Robinson as well as Craig Watson. Almost immediately, Mark Wilson then turned to his bench as Fraser Taylor, Kyle Turner and Ricco Diack came on for Crawford, Stanway and Mackay-Steven, as Watt transitioned out to a role on the left wing. Ryan Dow almost edged the Red Lichties in front when Marshall teed him up for a shot from 15 yards out, however, Josh Clarke made a strong save despite the effort deflecting off Ethan Ingram on its way to goal. The best opening of the final 20 minutes fell to Scott Robinson as he drove towards the Thistle box on the inside-left channel, but the substitute’s strike sailed over the bar into the Pleasureland End terracing.
Today’s draw sees the Jags extend their current undefeated league streak to 13 games, their longest run since the famous 2012/13 Championship promotion season. Partick Thistle return to Firhill for the final game of the regular season on Friday, taking on Queen’s Park in the Glasgow Derby. The Jags go into the game, which kicks off at 7:45pm, with the chance to finish the league campaign unbeaten on home turf.
 Reaction |
Thistle manager Mark Wilson spoke to the press, transcribed via
'The Thistle' 
:
Well, we kind of utilised the game - and you could probably see - we tried a different way of pressing the game in the first half. So we obviously came off of them and that went much the way we expected. But I thought within that, I saw one or two glimpses of what we could do when springing attacks quickly, and we created one or two chances that we probably could have taken. In the second half we have a great opportunity and it kind of just petered out. I don’t think it was a great one for the neutrals watching it if I’m honest, and you can quite clearly see the end of the season’s coming. Another clean sheet for us is of course a positive. I thought we probably should have won it. We knew Arbroath were going to have more possession than us, and it’s not often we do that, but it was by design and it wasn’t by anything else. It’s one that we just put behind us, move on to the last game of the regular season and get prepared.
Jacob Wilkie
Craig Watson
