The Thistle Archive

Media report

After weeks of slating his lacklustre players, Partick Thistle boss John McVeigh finally had something nice to say about them - even though they lost the lead three minutes into injury time. The Jags gaffer last week declared his under-achievers would be shown the door after a string of disastrous results had left them floundering at the bottom of the league. But McVeigh gave his lads praise not pelters after the thrilling 3-3 draw with Hamilton. He said: “I'm sick that we didn't hold on for the win. It's always a bit sore losing an equaliser three minutes into injury time. But I'm delighted with the effort, endeavour and enthusiasm of my players after all the criticism they've taken from me. If I get that every week from them I'll be happy - this could be a turning point for us.”

It looked like the Jags were in for yet another 90 minutes of torture when Gary Clark opened the scoring for the visitors with a header in the second minute. But referee Willie Young stepped in to redress the balance when he awarded Thistle a penalty in the 20th minute, claiming Steve Thomson had pushed Alan Morgan. Jerry Stirling made the conversion and repeated the process just 13 minutes later when Young again penalised ticked-off Thomson for shoving Morgan. A 25-yard free-kick midway through the second half by Steven Renicks tied the match. Thistle then looked set to clinch only their second win of the season when Charlie Adams nodded home. But Scott McCulloch stepped up in the dying seconds to grab his first of the season and earn Hamilton a valuable point.

Accies boss Sandy Clark said: “It would have been nice to see the two penalty incidents - they looked very, very soft. I can't get involved in it, unfortunately, but needless to say we're very disappointed with the way those incidents worked out. On the positive side it must have been one helluva game for the supporters with six goals. I thought we showed marvellous character in the second-half to come back from 2-1 down and 3-2 down. It's great to have Paul Ritchie back as well. He had two efforts that were blocked and on any other day he could have scored.”

Ritchie - who scored 34 goals last term - ended a two-month injury nightmare when he came off the bench at Firhill. And he said: “It was just great to be back. I nearly scored with my first touch but one of their lads got a block on it.”

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