The Thistle Archive

matches:2017-18: ← 03game 0405 →

	Donald Jennow	Alan Archibald	40y, 0m, 12d

		James Penrice; Ryan Edwards
		Abdul Osman; Stuart Bannigan

Dean Cairns (2-1, 55 mins)		Kris Doolan (1-0, 10 mins); Blair Spittal (2-0, 40 mins)
Ryan Conroy (2-1, 55 mins)		Chris Erskine (1-0, 10 mins); none (2-0, 40 mins)


Robbie Leighton (Murray Lowden, 51 mins); Cammy Russell (Scott Thomson, 87 mins)		Chris Erskine (Andy McCarthy, 67 mins); Ryan Edwards (Kevin Nisbet, 77 mins); Steven Lawless (Stuart Bannigan, 81 mins)

	Rohan Ferguson	Tomáš Černý	32y, 3m, 15d
	Scott Stewart	Christie Elliott	26y, 1m, 29d
	Kieran MacDonald	Callum Booth	26y, 1m, 25d
	Dean Cairns	Danny Devine	24y, 10m, 18d
	David Brownlie	James Penrice	18y, 7m, 3d
	Sean McIntosh	Adam Barton	26y, 6m, 18d
	John Higgins	Blair Spittal	21y, 7m, 6d
	former Jag Ryan Conroy	Ryan Edwards	23y, 8m, 8d
	Andy Ryan	Kris Doolan	30y, 7m, 14d
	Cammy Russell	Chris Erskine	30y, 5m, 17d
	Robbie Leighton	Steven Lawless	26y, 3m, 13d

			26y, 1m, 10d

	Matthew Kerr	Ryan Scully	24y, 8m, 26d
	Conor McLaughlin	Stuart Bannigan	24y, 10m, 8d
	Murray Lowden	Kevin Nisbet	20y, 4m, 17d
	Scott Thomson	Andy McCarthy	18y, 9m, 5d
		Mark Lamont	19y, 5m, 0d
		Neil McLaughlin	18y, 8m, 19d

	Teamlines derived from PTFC / SPFL. Thistle generally in playing order, opposition in squad number order. Airdrie filled only 4 of their 7 allocated bench slots, whilst Thistle filled only 6 of theirs.
	1255 (SPFL)

Erskine set up Doolan (10) then Erskine's header hit the post. Cerny had several saves and had the bar to thank as Airdrie pressed. Spittal fired home a parried save (40) to give Thistle a comfortable lead. An unmarked header found the net (55) and the 2nd half was a hard slog, neither team able score again.

AIRDRIE might have no money to bring in a head coach or players. But they paid the price for being slack in defence. Blair Spittal’s first-half strike was the difference. But it was a goal the pumped-up Diamonds gift-wrapped after a mix up in their defence. Victory wasn’t enough for the Jags to reach the last 16 as Group H winners. But three points against Stranraer will see them make it as one of the four best second-placed sides. Spittal’s goal came after Kris Doolan opened the scoring for the Jags and Dean Cairns pulled one back after the break. With director of football Gordon Dalziel directing things from the dugout, Airdrie couldn’t be faulted for desire.

Thistle — with Ryan Edwards and James Penrice in for the banned Abdul Osman and rested Stuart Bannigan — started the same way they’d played in their 5-0 thumping of St Mirren. And just like Saturday, it was Doolan who put them in front. A sweeping move saw Spittal find Chris Erskine. He could have shot himself but squared for Doolan to fired home. Soon after, Erskine crashed a Callum Booth cross off the bar. Five minutes before the break they doubled their lead — but it was a goal that the Diamonds could have avoided. Erskine’s shot was parried into the air by Ferguson, who got in a mix-up with defenders Cairns and David Brownlie. The ball eventually found its way to Spittal who drilled into the empty net. After the break the Diamonds came out fired up and pulled one back ten minutes in. Conroy’s corner found the unmarked Cairns who was free to plant a header past Cerny.

Diamonds chief Dalziel said:

A lot of people thought we would take a doing but I was proud of the boys. Second half they were outstanding. They’re a young group that’s learning. We gave away a few cheap goals against a really good, powerful side that finished top six in the Premiership.

Thistle boss Alan Archibald said:

After 15 or 20 minutes we scored and hit the bar and maybe the players thought it was going to be a bit easy. I’m not sure we took the foot off the gas but we just kind of played into Airdrie’s hands. They changed their shape and made it hard for us to break them down. We had to deal with that but we didn’t do it well enough. We played some intricate stuff, some one and two touch stuff and it wasn’t a night for that. I was disappointed the goal game from a set-piece but hopefully we’ll get them out the road and don’t take them into the league.

Gareth Law, 25-Jul-2017, The Scottish Sun

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