The Thistle Archive

Media report

John Barnes, 18-Mar-2017, bbc.com

Conor Sammon's late equaliser earned Kilmarnock a Premiership point at home to Partick Thistle. Steven Lawless and Adam Barton both hit the woodwork either side of half-time for the visitors. Chris Erskine finally broke the deadlock when he turned and rifled a shot past goalkeeper Freddie Woodman. However, they were denied three points when Sammon's innocuous shot slipped through the fingers of Thistle goalkeeper Tomas Cerny. Five years ago today Kilmarnock won the Scottish League Cup final at Hampden by beating Celtic. As they celebrated the anniversary, with the trophy displayed at half time, they also recorded what could prove to be a vital point in their quest to secure their Premiership status for another season at least. With six of the previous nine meetings between these sides having been drawn we should have expected a close encounter and we got it.

Killie enjoyed plenty of first half possession, had a good few chances and showed an inventive side from a succession of corner kicks. Interim boss Lee McCulloch and his coaching staff have obviously been rehearsing options on how to create openings from set pieces and they were proving handful for the visitors to defend. From one, Scott Boyd's header from Jordan Jones' delivery was superbly tipped over the bar by Cerny. From the next corner Jones, worked it short to Greg Taylor before his cross found Kris Boyd who set up Sammon, but as he stretched to score from close range the ball was deflected over the bar by Thistle's Christie Elliott. Killie were also creative in open play. Jones had a left foot strike which flew wide of Cerny's post as the home side looked for the breakthrough before Kris Boyd blasted over from 16 yards on the angle after being released by a neat pass from Rory McKenzie.

Thistle had two first half chances. A Lawless strike which hit the crossbar after he latched onto a Scott Boyd clearance and a Niall Keown header from an Erskine free kick which went wide. But they made a more impressive start to the second period. Ryan Edwards turned well on the edge of the area before shooting wide then, Erskine sent a powerful volley the wrong side of the right hand post. The pendulum had swung and next to try his luck for Thistle was Barton who blasted in a left foot shot which struck the inside of the Killie 'keeper's right hand post before bouncing clear. The goal eventually arrived and Erskine delivered it as he swivelled 10 yards out before turning his left foot shot beyond Woodman. But the home side responded well as Sammon claimed the equaliser with a 25 yard effort which beat Cerny. It was the striker's fourth goal for the Ayrshire side since joining on loan from Hearts.

Reaction

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

I thought the referee could have helped us out because we knew they were going to block. Kris Boyd gets free twice in the box and you now why he's free, it's down to good movement, but they were blocking our centre half and the officials didn't help us out. The second half was much better. The rain certainly helped the pitch and allowed us to pass the ball. I thought we deserved to win it mainly based on the that second half, but just disappointed with the error at the end. I don't think you're ever safe until you're in the top six [after the split]. We saw it last year with teams getting dragged back in, so we'll just focus on our next home game which is Ross County and try and get the three points there.

Kilmarnock interim manager Lee McCulloch (speaking to the BBC):

On the first half performance you could easily say we deserved the point. Then up until about 75 minutes Partick Thistle were very good and we thought we'd weathered the storm. But we've allowed no real pressure on the ball, the cross comes in and Erskine's allowed to take a touch, turn and good finish, but he's a good player. So we decided to change it and go two up top and we finished the game better, but overall I'll take the point. We made some minor changes to the preparation. We even got the dressing room changed a little bit - added a bit of colour to that - anything to get rid of this home form that's not been good enough.

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