The Thistle Archive

Media report

Tom English, 17-Dec-2016, bbc.com

Partick Thistle came from behind to claim a point at Tynecastle in Ian Cathro's home debut as Hearts manager. The hosts were the better side in a dour first-half and took the lead through Bjorn Johnson's header. Sean Welsh hit back for Thistle early after the break and the visitors passed up several chances to claim victory. Callum Booth struck the crossbar and Jack Hamilton made excellent stops from Chris Erskine and Kris Doolan to ensure Hearts clung on to a point. Thistle remain bottom of the Premiership but will be heartened by their second half display, while Cathro knows his team will have to improve if he is to win over the Tynecastle faithful.

Hearts hit the front after 17 uneventful minutes when he glanced Liam Smith's cross past Tomas Cerny and into the corner of his net. For the longest time, that was the extent of the action. This was dull, sloppy, lifeless football. Tynecastle, a place capable of delivering such raucous atmospheres, was mostly hushed until the endgame, when they booed. The home side could have made it two just before the break, but an Arnaud Djoum shot was tipped away and soon after an Igor Rossi header slapped off the Partick crossbar. Beyond that, there was nothing but the sound of cheering from the visiting fans and the continuing sound of disgruntlement among their opposite numbers. The vibe in Tynecastle grew ever more antsy in the early minutes of the second half when Welsh headed Partick level. It was the first time they had stirred as an attacking force and it sparked something in Alan Archibald's team. Nine minutes later, Ade Adeez was played through one-on-one with Hamilton and should have scored. Instead, Hamilton kicked away his shot and Hearts survived. The fractiousness of Tynecastle was palpable now. At one point, as Partick took hold of the game, Don Cowie felt the need to gesture to his own supporters, lowering the palms of his hands to the ground, urging them all to calm down.

Save for the odd flurry from Hearts, the visitors dominated the second half. There was an extraordinary passage 10 minutes from time when they created three excellent chances in quick order. Firstly, Booth rifled a shot off Hamilton's crossbar, then the goalkeeper denied Chris Erskine with a fine save and just after that Liam Lindsay thumped a header over the Hearts crossbar when he really ought to have scored. Hamilton had to rescue his team again four minutes from the end when Doolan threatened to win it. They would have deserved to. Partick should have left Edinburgh with three points, not one. On the full time whistle, the home fans let their team have it, booing loudly, if briefly. This was not how it was supposed to be in Cathro's new era.

Reaction

Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald (speaking to the BBC):

I thought we were dominant in the second half. We scored a goal at a good time to get us back into the game after a disappointing first half. Then we were on the front foot and we created a number of very, very good chances. Enough to probably win two games and it's hard to do that at Tynecastle. It's an intimidating place to come, you have to enjoy it and try and turn the home fans against their team. We did that in the second half. It helped us create chances and made them a bit more nervy at the back. We've got a tough run of fixtures now. Winnable games but we know they're teams around about us and we need to take points from them.

Hearts head coach Ian Cathro (speaking to the BBC):

Initially we were able to win a bit of control. We started the game well. We had some good periods of possession in the opponent's half. There was some good performances. In the second half we didn't have that control. At the end of that we all feel the same thing. Voicing that is completely normal. What we've got to do is stay together, support each other and continue to make progress. That will be thing that changes things quickly.

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SEAN'S LUCKY REF

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