15th Apr 2021 Partick Thistle 5 Montrose 0 (SPFL League One - game 17)

matches:2020-21: ← 27game 2829 →

56y, 6m, 16d	Ian McCall	Stewart Petrie

Ryan Williamson; Shea Gordon; Zak Rudden
Ciaran McKenna; Joe Cardle; Connor Murray

Zak Rudden (1-0, 20 mins); Zak Rudden (2-0, 38 mins); Stuart Bannigan (3-0, 52 mins); Scott Tiffoney (4-0, 55 mins); Shea Gordon (5-0, 77 mins)
Richard Foster (1-0, 20 mins); Brian Graham (2-0, 38 mins); none (3-0, 52 mins); Zak Rudden (4-0, 55 mins); Joe Cardle (5-0, 77 mins)
Darren Brownlie		Aidan Quinn; Andrew Steeves

Scott Tiffoney (Joe Cardle, 65 mins); Brian Graham (Ross MacIver, 65 mins); Ross Docherty (Andy Geggan, 79 mins); Zak Rudden (Connor Murray, 79 mins); Shea Gordon (Blair Lyons, 81 mins)		Lewis Milne (Craig Johnston, HT); Graham Webster (Robbie McGale, 61 mins); Terry Masson (Liam Callaghan, 61 mins); Russell McLean (Ross Campbell, 71 mins); Seán Dillon (Paul Watson, 71 mins)

23y, 7m, 9d	Jamie Sneddon	Allan Fleming
25y, 1m, 1d	Ryan Williamson	Cammy Ballantyne
35y, 8m, 15d	Richard Foster	Andrew Steeves
27y, 0m, 5d	Darren Brownlie	Seán Dillon
36y, 1m, 22d	Steven Bell	Aidan Quinn
28y, 6m, 29d	Stuart Bannigan	Terry Masson
28y, 2m, 23d	Ross Docherty	Cammy F. Ballantyne
22y, 10m, 30d	Shea Gordon	Lewis Milne
33y, 4m, 23d	Brian Graham	Russell McLean
21y, 2m, 9d	Zak Rudden	Graham Webster
22y, 7m, 20d	Scott Tiffoney	Christian Antoniazzi

27y, 8m, 5d

18y, 1m, 10d	Mason McCready	Aaron Lennox former Jag
34y, 2m, 8d	Joe Cardle	Kerr Waddell
22y, 1m, 18d	Ross MacIver	Paul Watson
24y, 6m, 23d	Blair Lyons	Lewis Hawke
23y, 0m, 21d	Ciaran McKenna	Ross Campbell
23y, 11m, 22d	Connor Murray	Craig Johnston
19y, 4m, 10d	Charlie Reilly	Liam Callaghan
21y, 6m, 7d	Mouhamed Niang	Chris Mochrie
33y, 11m, 7d	Andy Geggan	Robbie McGale

notes

Both sides generally in playing order.
Originally scheduled for Saturday, 27th February, 2021, the SPFL League One being suspended for nearly 10 weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Played closed-doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 'network' credits Ross MacIver with the assist for Thistle's 5th, but after having studied the video, it looks to us like Cardle's cross passed straight through MacIver's legs, only receiving superfluous contact from the Montrose defender before Shea Gordon's strike. We therefore credit this assist to Joe Cardle.

TTA report

Thistle overwhelmed Montrose who looked useful up front but tired late on. Rudden finished off a fine run by Foster (20) and hammered home from 19 yards (38). Bannigan's 20-yard free-kick (52) made it 3 then Tiffoney caught out the keeper at his near post from close in (55). Gordon finished off a Cardle cross (77) to go nap.

Media report

Blair McNally, 16-Apr-2021, nottheoldfirm.com

Partick Thistle continued their League One title chase, cruising to an excellent 5-0 win over Montrose at Firhill. A double from Zak Rudden was capped off by goals from Shea Gordon, Scott Tiffoney and a special free-kick from Stuart Bannigan, bringing the Jags to within a point of leaders Falkirk. The first chance of the match came for the home side. Brian Graham found the ball bouncing on the edge of the box, attempting an audacious chip which clipped the top of the bar in the process. With 20 minutes on the clock, the home side deservedly took the lead through an excellent transition of play from Richard Foster. Steven Bell’s switch found an on-rushing Foster who touched past the Montrose defence. In acres of space, he picked out Rudden, laying it on a plate for the in-form striker to finish with ease in front of goal. Rudden was flying as he scored his fourth goal in two days. An interchange with Graham played the ball into the path of his partner who made no mistake, smashing the ball high to put Thistle 2-0 ahead.

It was to be a night to remember as two individual efforts shortly after half-time ensured all three points remained in Maryhill. Bannigan chipped in with an unlikely goal. Brimming with confidence, the Jags veteran stepped up to a free-kick on the edge of the box, dispatching it delightfully into the top corner. Just minutes later Tiffoney joined in on the fun, adding his name to the scoresheet. The Livingston loanee skipped past numerous Montrose defender’s before his shot was deflected into the bottom left corner. Joe Cardle’s cross then found the feet of Gordon, leaving him to stroke home with a stretching volley 10 minutes before the end. Thistle leapfrogged Cove Rangers into second place, one point behind leaders Falkirk. The visitors remain in 5th place having played a game extra over 6th placed East Fife, one week before the League One split. Here are three things we learned:

Thistle in full flow. Thistle look to have found their feet after being in stop-start form for most of the season. A new lease of life in attack with the winter additions in full flow has put the Jags in cruise control, holding the best form in League One.

Montrose encouraging. The visitors showed signs of encouragement with several passages of play coming close to a goal. Stamina was evidently the difference between both sides as the heavy run of fixtures looks to be taking its toll on the part-time teams.

Rudden reignited. The introduction of Tiffoney has brought a new lease of life to this Thistle side, none more than Rudden. The 21-year-old is finally hitting the form he was signed by McCall to produce after a frustrating year. Scoring four goals in two days, Rudden is flying with confidence.

Reaction

Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall (speaking to Jagzone):

It was very good tonight, very good. There were plenty of good individual performances in the game but as always it was about getting the result against a good team and we did that. Now we are able to recover and wait to see how things pan out at the weekend. We look like winning games just now and the confidence is there in spades. Tonight showed everything good about what we’ve done this past week to the fullest extent and we’re delighted with the performance at both ends of the pitch. Scott Tiffoney has made a big difference, everyone can see that because the numbers speak for themselves. He’s given us something different. However, I think we’ve also just been more clinical as individuals. We didn’t score many during the first half of the season but we passed up some serious chances and we’re not doing that anymore. On top of that, injuries were a big problem earlier in the season that has been better as of late. Zak Rudden is the prime example of a player who we were missing. It’s been great to see him scoring and to be able to start him alongside Brian Graham was fantastic. It was the plan over a year ago to get them together on the pitch but we’ve only been able to do it twice that I can remember.

BACK-TO-BACK ZAK-ATTACK

● For the first time ever, Thistle meet Montrose in third tier action at Firhill.

● Zak Rudden is the first to register the back-to-back double brace since Kris Doolan netted 4 in 4 days vs. Cowdenbeath in March, 2013.

● Dangerman Scott Tiffoney has now contributed to 9 goals in his 8 games as a Jag, six times scorer and thrice assistant.

● It's 35 years since Thistle conceded a competitive goal to Montrose. The incredible 932 minute run now includes TEN consecutive clean-sheets, our greatest such run against any club, ever. To put this into context, the nearest such runs amount to 5: Forfar 1992-1998, Morton 2009-2010 & Livingston 2007-2008.

● For the first time in his career, Ian McCall registers three consecutive wins to nil as Thistle manager.

● Jags match their all-time greatest margin of victory against the Gable Endies, with a repeat of the 5-0 scoreline in a home League win in October, 1986.

● 64% of Thistle's League goals (18/28) have came in the last 2½ weeks! We are truly one of the most bizarre clubs in Scottish football.

ongoing sequences:

● 6 away League games without defeat; 28th Nov 2020 to date. (Longest run since: 6 games; 16th Mar 2019 to 3rd Aug 2019. Club-record: 13 games; 5th Dec 1970 to 11th Sep 1971.)

● 8 League games without defeat, 26th Dec 2020 to date. (Longest run since: 8 games; 18th Feb 2017 to 8th Apr 2017. Club-record: 27 games; 21st Nov 1970 to 18th Sep 1971.)

● 38 consecutive competitive appearances for Stuart Bannigan, 30th Nov 2019 to date. (Longest run since: James Penrice - 51 games, 7th Sep 2019 to 10th Apr 2021. Club-record: Johnny Jackson - 313 games, 28th Aug 1926 to 25th Mar 1933.)

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