The Thistle Archive

Media report

Kenny Crawford, 27-Jan-2018, bbc.com

Conor Sammon scored again as Partick Thistle held on against St Johnstone to record their first away Premiership victory in 17 attempts. The Jags took an early lead when Miles Storey set up Steven Lawless to finish a good move, then Sammon got his fifth goal in four games after the break. Saints replied through Liam Craig's penalty after Tomas Cerny had fouled debutant David McMillan. But Edwards ran half the length of the pitch to cement Thistle's win in style. Second-bottom Thistle move six points clear of Ross County and to within three of St Johnstone, who are eighth.

The Perth side had not tasted victory at home since 23 September and Alan Archibald's visitors quickly went about trying to ensure it stayed that way. Brimming with first team players back from injury, within the opening minute the Jags had Chris Erskine putting a low cross on a plate for either Sammon or Niall Keown to tap in, yet between them they failed to complete the task. At the other end of a windy McDiarmid Park, Keith Watson nearly netted with a deflected effort on what was his first Saints appearance in nearly a year following a loan stint at Hartlepool United. A few Premiership defences will testify to the fact that Storey's pace is outrageous. He continued a nice passing move by tearing down the left and cutting back for Lawless to side-foot high into the right corner for his fourth goal of the season. St Johnstone were nearly level instantly, and had the ball in the back of the net from David Wotherspoon's free-kick, but the referee spotted a push in the box and disallowed it. The visiting team's sitting midfield pairing of captain Abdul Osman and Martin Woods was proving to be a steady hub, letting Jags talisman Erskine express himself and test Saints goalkeeper Zander Clark, before later flighting a perfect long pass to Sammon, who cut inside and curled a left-foot shot just wide of the far post.

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright replaced Steven MacLean and Denny Johnstone with Chris Kane and recent signing McMillan. The Irishman almost made an immediate impression - forcing Tomas Cerny to push his goal-bound shot wide. Another substitute, Edwards, had only been on the pitch a couple of minutes before he was bursting into the box and squaring for Sammon to apply a finishing touch from six yards. Thistle might have thought the job was done but Saints found a way back into the game when Cerny rushed towards the edge of his box and clattered McMillan to concede a penalty and earn a yellow card. McMillan needed treatment on the pitch for a few minutes and was later taken off, but Craig kept his composure to send Cerny the wrong way. Kane's half-volley gave Thistle a fright near the end as St Johnstone pressed, but the Jags caught their hosts out on the counter attack, with Edwards using his renowned engine to run from his own half and finish under Clark.

Reaction

Speaking to the BBC, Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald was delighted to record their first away league win in 17 attempts:

I thought we were outstanding right from the word go. We moved the ball quickly and caught St Johnstone a little bit cold with our start. Psychologically, not winning away in the league wasn't playing too much on our minds because we'd had a couple of good away cup wins at tough venues, but you want to get that off your back. Conor Sammon is on fire. He was a real handful today. He's taken his chance. Our bench was strong today and Ryan Edwards came on and made a right difference.

Speaking to the BBC, St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright says he has "big decisions to make":

It's obvious we need to freshen things up. You could say the gloves are off. It's the first time since I've been here that I couldn't go in and see the players after the game, because all hell might have broken loose. It's very frustrating. We put ourselves under so much pressure with how we started the game again - on the back foot. We can't go 15 minutes at the start of a game without conceding a goal, particularly at home. It's been all season and the players haven't learned so I'm going to have to make big decisions. There are young players that I might have to throw in because maybe I've been a bit loyal to too many for too long. The referee makes a ridiculous decision. I don't know why he disallows David Wotherspoon's goal. There was nobody protesting from Partick Thistle. But overall we weren't good enough. We've got three or four days of the transfer window so hopefully we can get some more people in. We'll have to see but if we get someone hopefully they'll give us a boost.

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