The Thistle Archive

Firhill's north stand was renamed in the late Lambie's honour, and Thistle climbed off the bottom of the table with the win. Hamilton led through David Templeton, but Kris Doolan and Ryan Edwards struck back after the break. Thistle's first league win in 10 attempts breathed new life into their survival hopes, with Doolan's header ending a 594-minute goal drought to score his 100th league goal for the club.

Lambie, who died recently, had strong links with both clubs, but on the day Firhill's North Stand was officially named after him, it seemed to be the Jags players and fans who were roused most in the opening half an hour. Chris Erskine dragged a shot wide, then played in Doolan as the stand-in captain saw his low shot saved by Accies goalkeeper Gary Woods. The final ball was the main problem for Partick Thistle in those early stages. They were dominating possession and Christie Elliott was finding space down the right, yet his deliveries failed to find the crucial touch to finish the move. Hamilton gradually edged into the match and a neat couple of touches by Ross Jenkins and Templeton allowed Lewis Ferguson to play a fine through-ball for Mario's Ogboe, who dinked it past Tomas Cerny as the goalkeeper appeared to clip him. Referee John Beaton did not blow for a foul and Ogboe's attempt was cleared before it crossed the line. With the first half looking like it would end goalless, Templeton rustled up a fine finish to earn Martin Canning's men a precious lead. Dougie Imrie's pass was not intercepted and Templeton collected it just outside the left edge of the box, before nipping by a couple of defenders and curling it low into the far corner for his eighth of the season.

Ogboe had another chance after the break to put the visitors further in front, but shot straight at Cerny. Accies were ruing that missed opportunity when Doolan popped up to equalise. Eventually the hosts found the right man in the box as Callum Booth crossed from the left and Doolan arched a header back in the direction it came from into the top corner. Things got even better in the sun for Partick Thistle less than 10 minutes later. Alan Archibald's men nearly scored from a scramble after a corner kick, and when the ball was half-cleared, Edwards struck a sweet low shot through a crowd from the edge of the box to send the home fans delirious. With Accies slipping to a sixth successive defeat, there was a bit of a dust-up in added time with Imrie, Cerny and Jenkins booked, and the result certainly shakes up this relegation battle, which is now very interesting.

Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald said his side's comeback victory over Hamilton was a "fitting tribute" to former manager John Lambie:

The crowd was up and the players get a reaction from that. We started really well and I thought we were unlucky to go a goal down, although it was bad defending. It was a great delivery and a great finish from Kris Doolan to get us on the way back. That's his job and you want that reaction from someone who's not been playing for a while. It's massive. It gives you a real bounce. We've now got a win and we've got goals, so we've put a couple of those things to bed now.

Hamilton manager Martin Canning was "frustrated" by his team's failure to hold on to their lead, but also his side being denied a first-half penalty when Marius Ogboe was brought down by Thistle goalkeeper Tomas Cerny:

I thought it was only a matter of time before we got another opportunity to put the game to bed, so to end up losing is disappointing. It's a stone-wall penalty in the first half and I don't know then what the referee decides to do - whether Tomas Cerny goes off or stays on - but it could have made a difference. It's a poor call and he said to one of our players that our players' reaction made him think it wasn't a penalty. I don't think our players should need to react to get a penalty. That's his job to make that call. It's a sore one.

Kenny Crawford, bbc.com, Saturday, 21st April, 2018.

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