16th Feb 2019 Alloa Athletic 0 Partick Thistle 2 (SPFL Championship - game 24)

matches:2018-19: ← 33game 3435 →

	Jim Goodwin	Gary Caldwell	36y, 10m, 4d

		Blair Spittal; Kris Doolan
		Steven Saunders; Miles Storey

		Blair Spittal (1-0, 4 mins); Scott McDonald (2-0, 79 mins)
		Kris Doolan (1-0, 4 mins); Lewis Mansell (2-0, 79 mins)
Steven Hetherington; Iain Flannigan		Stuart Bannigan; Conor Hazard

Kevin Cawley (Jordan Kirkpatrick, 74 mins); Alan Trouten (Jack Hamilton, 81 mins); Steven Hetherington (Jon Robertson, 84 mins)		Aidan Fitzpatrick (Scott McDonald, 65 mins); Kris Doolan (Lewis Mansell, 79 mins); Gary Harkins (Callum Wilson, 87 mins)

	Neil Parry	Conor Hazard	20y, 11m, 11d
	Scott Taggart	Christie Elliott	27y, 8m, 21d
	Liam Dick	James Penrice	20y, 1m, 25d
	Sam Roscoe	Jack McMillan	21y, 1m, 29d
	Andy Graham	Steven Anderson	33y, 1m, 28d
	Steven Hetherington	Stuart Bannigan	26y, 4m, 30d
	Kevin Cawley	Craig Slater	24y, 9m, 21d
	Alan Trouten	Blair Spittal	23y, 1m, 28d
	former Jag Iain Flannigan	Kris Doolan	32y, 2m, 5d
	future Jag Dario Zanatta	Aidan Fitzpatrick	17y, 10m, 27d
	Connor Shields	Gary Harkins	34y, 1m, 14d

			25y, 7m, 11d

	Chris Henry	Jamie Sneddon	21y, 5m, 10d
	Jon Robertson	Sean McGinty	25y, 6m, 5d
	Jack Hamilton	Scott McDonald	35y, 5m, 26d
	Adam Brown	Callum Wilson	19y, 7m, 24d
	Jordan Kirkpatrick	Souleymane Coulibaly	24y, 1m, 21d
		Lewis Mansell	21y, 4m, 27d
		Ally Roy	21y, 8m, 21d

notes

Thistle generally in playing order, opposition in squad number order.
Alloa Athletic filled only 5 of their 7 allocated bench slots.

TTA report

Doolan's lay-off set up Spittal for the opener (4) but there were few clear-cut chances in the first half. Doolan went close from distance just after half-time. Sub McDonald scored on his debut from close in (79) and Thistle saw the game out although McMillan had to clear off the line in added time to keep the clean sheet.

Media report

16-Feb-2019, The Scotsman

Scott McDonald scored only 15 minutes into his Thistle debut to help move his new side out of the relegation zone and send Alloa to the foot of the table. The former Australia internationalist spurned a glorious chance minutes after his introduction when he skewed over the bar but he made amends soon after.

Fellow substitute Lewis Mansell grabbed an assist with his first touch, nodding the ball down for McDonald to stab home. Thistle had allowed Alloa to grab a foothold in the game despite taking an early lead when Kris Doolan collected the ball in the box with his back to goal and cushioned it back to Blair Spittal who rifled a left-footed shot past Neil Parry. Spittal almost grabbed his second on 11 minutes when he collected Jack McMillan’s long ball but Parry made a smart save at his near post.

Thistle spurned two opportunities to double their advantage. First Gary Harkins had a goalbound effort cleared off the line by Kevin Cawley before McMillan’s effort hit the bar. Alloa battled valiantly throughout, with Steven Anderson and McMillan producing great defensive clearances to deny them, but the Wasps face an uphill battle to avoid the drop.

Reaction

Thistle assistant manager Brian Kerr (speaking to Jagzone):

So much of what we do happens through the week so we’ve been preparing for the match as normal even though Gary wasn’t in the dugout with me today. We have our gameplan ready well in advance and the manager has plenty of time to make sure the players know what they need to do. On top of that, a few hours before the game, at our pre-match meal, he got to speak to them and give some final words ahead of the game. Overall, whether he’s on the sidelines or in the stand it comes down to the players to perform and they did their part today in what was a brilliant result. The aim for us is to keep climbing and try to get away from those bottom two spots. We’re now above Alloa and Falkirk and we aren’t too far away from the likes of Morton and Dunfermline. Ultimately, we just need to keep up our current form and we’ll continue to move up the league. [on Steven Anderson:] He’s been a rock at the back since he arrived. It seems like the ball just magnetises to his head at times with the way he wins those aerial challenges. He’s one of a few new players in that defence who have come in with a real hunger and determination which has been a big part of our recent run.

OLD MCDONALD SETS A RECORD

● 35-year-old Scott McDonald makes his Thistle debut and joins our scoring debutants club.

● Scott is the FIFTH scoring debtant of the 2018-19 season. In competitive action, it's the second greatest number in any given season of the club's history. The record (7) was set in season 1900-01.

● Thistle have now struck the first blow in all 7 of their competitive matches in 2019.

● As far as is known, Scott (35y, 5m, 26d) becomes the oldest player ever to score on his competitive debut for Thistle. He takes the record from Adam McLean (34y, 3m, 16d), who scored twice in a famous 7-3 win at Douglas Park, the opening game of the 1933-34 League season.

● Thistle have now listed 36 players on the competitive team-sheets this season.

● Blair Spittal, voted player of the month for both December & January, nets his 8th competitive goal of the season, re-extending his lead at the top of our scoring charts to 3.

● 6 of the current squad are striving to protect 100% competitive win records as Jags: Jack McMillan (4), Callum Wilson (3), Steven Anderson (3), Lewis Mansell (2), Aaron Lennox (1) and Scott McDonald (1).

● Thistle win 3 consecutive competitive away games for the first time since 2013. The club-record (6) was set by Dick Campbell's Thistle in August, 2006.

● On a 3 pts-per-win basis for all competitive matches, Thistle's 7 game start to 2019 has yielded 2.43 pts-per-game, the best since John Lambie's Jags returned an identical figure to start 2002.

ongoing sequences:

● 5 consecutive competitive wins, 19th Jan 2019 to date. (Longest run since: 5 wins, 15th Jul 2016 to 6th Aug 2016. Club-record: 10 wins, 22nd Oct 1932 to 26th Dec 1932.)

● 7 competitive games without defeat, 5th Jan 2019 to date. (Longest run since: 8 games, 7th May 2016 to 6th Aug 2016. Joint club-record: 16 games, 15th Nov 1975 to 21st Feb 1976 & 30th Sep 2000 to 13th Jan 2001.)

● 7 consecutive competitive first-half clean-sheets, 5th Jan 2019 to date.

● 43 consecutive competitive appearances for Blair Spittal, 31st Mar 2018 to date, a new personal best. (Longest run since: Adam Barton - 54 games; 28th Dec 2016 to 3rd Feb 2018. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games; 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

Stats Watch adheres to our stated definitions of League, League Max, Major Competitive, Competitive or All Games. Where there is no written qualification, you should presume that the Stat in question is compiled from the All Games criteria.

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