11th Mar 2017 Partick Thistle 1 Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1 (SPFL Premiership - game 28)

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matches:2016-17: ← 40game 4142 →

39y, 7m, 26d	Alan Archibald	Richie Foran

Mustapha Dumbuya; Steven Lawless
Christie Elliott; Danny Devine

Kris Doolan (1-0, 56 mins)		Gary Warren (1-1, 90+2 mins)
Ryan Edwards (1-0, 56 mins)		Billy King (1-1, 90+2 mins)
David Amoo		Iain Vigurs; Jamie McCart

Abdul Osman (David Amoo, 33 mins); Steven Lawless (Ade Azeez, 43 mins); Chris Erskine (Christie Elliott, 89 mins)		Liam Polworth (Billy King, 62 mins); Iain Vigurs (Scott Boden, 81 mins); Henri Anier (Larnell Cole, 81 mins)

31y, 11m, 1d	Tomáš Černý	Owain Fôn Williams
29y, 7m, 4d	Mustapha Dumbuya	David Raven
25y, 9m, 9d	Callum Booth	Gary Warren
21y, 4m, 27d	Liam Lindsay	Liam Polworth
21y, 11m, 6d	Niall Keown	Iain Vigurs
30y, 0m, 12d	Abdul Osman	Jamie McCart
26y, 2m, 4d	Adam Barton	Billy McKay
30y, 1m, 3d	Chris Erskine	Greg Tansey
30y, 3m, 0d	Kris Doolan	Louis Laing
23y, 3m, 22d	Ryan Edwards	Brad McKay
25y, 10m, 27d	Steven Lawless	Henri Anier

26y, 11m, 11d

26y, 7m, 2d	Mark Ridgers	Daniel Hoban
25y, 10m, 26d	David Amoo	Kevin McNaughton
25y, 9m, 13d	Christie Elliott	Dean Ebbe
23y, 2m, 3d	Ade Azeez	Alex Fisher
20y, 0m, 3d	Kevin Nisbet	Scott Boden
18y, 4m, 19d	Andy McCarthy	Billy King
19y, 0m, 14d	Mark Lamont	Larnell Cole

notes

Thistle generally in playing order, opposition in squad number order.

TTA report

Failure to clear a header at the back post (92) earned bottom club ICT a point they scarcely deserved. Doolan prodded in an Edwards cross (56) then the best passing move of the match almost led to an OG but Thistle couldn't find a 2nd goal their play deserved so ICT always had a chance, and they took it.

Media report

John Barnes, 11-Mar-2017, bbc.com

Gary Warren's last-minute header salvaged a precious point for Inverness Caley Thistle in their battle to stay in the Scottish Premiership. Kris Doolan's 10th goal of the season looked to have earned Partick Thistle their fourth straight Premiership win. But Warren nodded home at the far post for the Highlanders, who had a first-half strike from Henri Anier disallowed with Billy Mckay standing offside. Doolan stabbed home an inviting Ryan Edwards cross to put Partick ahead. The hosts remain in sixth place while Caley's late rally saw them move to within a point of 11th-placed Hamilton.

The visitors had the first effort of the match when Greg Tansey fired a 25-yard shot wide of Tomas Cerny's right-hand post. But that was their only real threat in the first quarter as the home side dominated possession. Edwards, Chris Erskine and Steven Lawless were always on the move, probing and stretching the Caley defence. Callum Booth and Mustapha Dumbuya were getting forward on the flanks but only the final product was missing as visitors defended well. Edwards blasted over before Inverness keeper Owain Fon Williams thwarted Erskine and Doolan after neat combination play. Injuries to Abdul Osman and Lawless forced Partick to alter their strategy. They hadn't had time to replace Lawless, who was off the pitch, when the visitors thought they had opened the scoring four minutes before the interval. Anier fired in a shot from the edge of the area which beat Cerny, but as the Caley Thistle players headed off to celebrate, the flag went up for offside against his fellow striker Billy Mckay.

The threat of Doolan, Thistle's top scorer, was always evident and early in the second half Fon Williams had to tip the striker's low shot round the post. But in the 56th minute the Thistle hitman slid in to connect left-footed with Edwards' whipped low cross from the right, his 99th goal for the club. Fon Williams produced an excellent save to deny Thistle a second. A succession of one-twos between Erskine and Doolan ended with the ball taking a ricochet off Louis Laing. But just as it looked like producing an own goal, the Caley Thistle keeper dived to his left to turn it round the post. Doolan donned the captain's armband after Osman went off and led the line well, but it was the Caley Thistle skipper who had the last word. Two minutes into stoppage time Warren rose at the back post to head in the equaliser from Billy King's cross to earn what could be a vital point in their relegation battle.

Reaction

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

We're certainly in the driving seat with 10 seconds to go, but we've got to stop the ball coming into the box. We didn't which is disappointing because I thought we deserved the three points for our overall play considering we had to make a couple of changes to key personnel. The pitch didn't help because we were playing some decent stuff and either the final pass eluded us or the pitch played a little bit of havoc with people's touches as well. We got our goal I thought our play deserved and we should have done enough to hang on. I think Kris Doolan's overall play was fantastic. He was playing as a striker but he was dropping in at times to help out the midfield with Abdul Osman having gone off. There were some really good performers for us today. I'm just disappointed because it feels like a defeat that we didn't take the three points.

Inverness CT manager Richie Foran (speaking to the BBC):

It's a huge point today. I thought it was a very close game, but we've played against, for me, a top-four side today. They are an excellent team, strong aggressive, can pass the ball and have goal scorers, so it's a big point. I always believed we'd score and we've scored a lot of late goals this season. If you put balls in the box you've got a chance. It was a great leap [by Gary Warren] and a great finish. It was a good ball hung up by Billy King. I'm delighted for the players and we're going in now to two home games. I thought Willie Collum had a great game, but I'd like to see that [disallowed Henri Anier goal] again. Is he interfering with play? I'm not sure. But overall the referee's performance was excellent and I have to give him some credit as well. Results have gone our way, so it sets it up for a cracking game of football next week against Ross County.

DOUBLE FIGURES JOINT-RECORD FOR DOOLAN

● 19-year-old Mark Lamont becomes the 32nd player to be listed on a competitive Thistle teamsheet in 2016-17.

● Adam Barton sets a new personal best run of 12 consecutive competitive appearances in the Thistle team.

● For the first-time during Archie's reign, Thistle make two first-half substitutions, both enforced. You have to rewind back to Tuesday, 10th April, 2012, at Cappielow to find the last such occurrence. That night, we were barely a quarter of the way into the game when injuries forced Scott Robertson and Aaron Taylor-Sinclair to be replaced by Conrad Balatoni and Mark McGuigan.

● Ryan Edwards celebrates his international call-up with just his second-ever assist for the club.

● Kris Doolan gets his 10th competitive goal of the season, and thereby registers the magic double-figures tally for the SEVENTH consecutive season. He now stands shoulder to shoulder with Jimmy Walker, the only other player to have achieved such a feat in Thistle colours.

● With his 90th SFL/SPFL goal, Kris draws level with Willie Sharp as Thistle's all-time joint-top League goalscorer.

● With his 5th goal versus the Invernessians, Kris Doolan matches Martin Hardie's 15-year-old record as top competitive scorer against them, both men now with 5 strikes apiece.

● This 1-1 result ends a H2H record run of 6 competitive home games without a draw. Technically, it's the first-ever 1-1 draw between these sides, given that knockout cup-ties can never finish all-square. Furthermore, we never drew 1-1 with either Caledonian or Thistle in their original incarnations either.

ongoing sequences:

● 36 consecutive competitive appearances for Ade Azeez, 15th July 2016 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Ryan Edwards - 39 games; 2nd Mar 2016 to 31st Dec 2016. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games; 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

● 57 away League games without a penalty award, 1st Mar 2014 to date. (Longest run since the club-record: 62 games; 1st Apr 1911 to 7th Nov 1914.)

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