The Thistle Archive

Media report

25-Jul-2021, Sky Sports

Joe Shaughnessy netted five minutes into stoppage-time to secure St Mirren a place among the seeded teams in the Premier Sports Cup second round. The Saints skipper's goal made it 2-0 and ensured they bettered Dundee United's record. Jamie McGrath's first-half penalty had put the Paisley side on course to top the group but they left it late to guarantee themselves a place among the seeds. Thistle had to win by three goals to leapfrog the Buddies and join Dunfermline in progressing from Group G. But their task became even tougher when McGrath slotted home a 25th-minute spot-kick after Richard Foster had been adjudged to have brought down Jay Henderson. The Jags responded and Jak Alnwick made saves from Brian Graham and Stuart Bannigan before the break.

But the hosts dominated after the interval. McGrath's shot skimmed the top of the bar before Curtis Main missed a couple of decent chances and Henderson shot straight at the goalkeeper. Main headed wide from close range in stoppage-time but centre-back Shaughnessy found himself in the six-yard box moments later to tap in Lee Erwin's square ball. Both St Mirren and Dundee United have identical goal difference records of nine for and one against, but Jim Goodwin's side moved ahead courtesy of scoring more away from home. They join Dundee among the seeds for Sunday evening's draw along with European qualifiers Rangers, Celtic, St Johnstone, Hibernian and Aberdeen.

Reaction

Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall (speaking to Jagzone):

I thought it was really tight in the first half. We had a couple of good opportunities and who knows what happens if we score one of them but, to be fair to them, they had good chances of their own in the second half before they eventually got their second. In the end, it was immaterial whether we lost by one or two goals so we tried to go for it. We put bodies forward and made a couple of forward thinking subs but that left us a bit more open at the back and they capitalised on it for the second goal right at the end. Look, we’ve got some quality players here at the moment. The squad will be a bit fuller over the next couple of weeks with Scott Tiffoney and Cammy Smith coming into contention and then we’re still looking to add more new players soon so we’re looking forward to a big game next Saturday against Queen of the South. I felt we did miss Tiff’s pace today, that bit of something different that really can unsettle a defence and likewise with Cammy, he’s the sort of player that maybe could have found that killer pass we were missing today so we’ll look forward to having them available soon.

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UNLUCKY HARRY

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