The Thistle Archive

Media report

David Forrest, 12-Apr-2025, ptfc.co.uk

Partick Thistle’s race to secure a promotion play-off spot stalled on Saturday, with a 2-1 loss to Hamilton Academical at The Wyre Stadium at Firhill. The Jags came into the fixture three points clear of play-off rivals Raith Rovers, while Hamilton started the day in eighth place, two points clear of Dunfermline in the relegation play-off spot. There were two changes from the team that started last Saturday’s 2-1 defeat away to Airdrieonians with Ben Stanway deputising for the suspended Stuart Bannigan. Josh Reid was absent from the matchday squad as Thistle reverted to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Dan O’Reilly moving to left back as Aidan Fitzpatrick came in for Reid.

It was Thistle who started the brighter of the two in the opening minutes with some encouraging play down the wings, playing balls into the box, just lacking an end product. Hamilton would have the first meaningful chance of the game, after an error from Robbie Crawford saw Thistle lose possession in their own half. Oli Shaw raced through, but his low shot from outside the box went wide as it remained goalless. Logan Chalmers had a couple of half-chances as Thistle continued to look the more lively going forward, before Accies pounced against the run of play to open the scoring. Lee Ashcroft looked to get himself to a dangerous ball in the Thistle box, but as he did, Luke McBeth also tried to clear it away. McBeth proceeded to flick his ball over Ashcroft, straight into the path of Nikolay Todorov. Todorov promptly volleyed the ball home from eight yards out to give Accies the lead. Two minutes later, Accies had doubled their lead. A misplaced delivery from a set-piece by Kyle Turner allowed Robinson to catch our defence napping and break through on goal. The former Jag was then able to dispatch his shot past Lewis Budinauckas with ease for 2-0. The Jags tried to respond, coming close on twenty-two minutes when Brian Graham got his head to a lovely Kanayo Megwa cross, but his effort went wide. The game then descended into a slog as Thistle looked to have stuffing knocked out of them by the quick-fire Accies double. Thistle’s brightest forward move occurred just moments before half time. Chalmers pressed through on the right-hand side, but before he could launch the ball into the box, the referee spotted a Hamilton player down in the middle of the pitch and blows for an Accies free kick. Stanway tried to liven up play with a few crosses into the box in stoppage time, but Accies keeper Dean Lyness dealt with them easily as Thistle went into the break two goals down.

The opening moments of the second half saw Thistle cause Hamilton’s defence more issues, but Accies keeper Lyness was able to deal with efforts from Dan O’Reilly and Graham with ease. The game once again ground to a halt as Accies sat in and dictated the pace, dealing with The Jags’ forays forward easily. The seventy minute mark saw a bit of good news as academy graduate Liam Rooney came on for his debut appearance in Thistle colours, replacing Megwa. Rooney looked lively when he came on, with Thistle getting more into the game after he came on. The youngster came close to a dream start, firing in a wonderful cross for Graham to hit home what would surely be Thistle’s first goal of the game, but Graham was unable to make contact at the back post with the high ball. The clock ticked down as Thistle looked set to end the game goalless before Graham halved the deficit in stoppage time. Graham managed to get his head onto Stevie Lawless’ cross, dinking over Lyness for his 96th competitive goal in red and yellow. It wasn’t enough to rescue a point though, as Accies held on for a vital win in their bid to escape relegation. The result sees The Jags remain in fourth place, but with their lead now cut to two points after Raith Rovers’ 1-1 draw against Airdrieonians today. Partick Thistle return to action next Saturday, with a trip to Fife to face Dunfermline Athletic at East End Park.

Reaction

Partick Thistle interim co-manager Mark Wilson (speaking to Jagzone):

Disappointed, of course. I didn't think we started well in the opening few minutes and then we got to grips with things, but with no real positive outcome. Then we lose a goal in the transition, we were slow to get back in. And, look, there was a deflection to take it into the boy's path and it ends up in the back of the net, and that can happen, you can find yourself behind in a game. What you can't do is compound that by losing a second so quickly in the fashion that we did. Again, it's our free-kick, an opportunity to put them under pressure, the delivery's poor, but it's the bit after that that really frustrates us, the lack of pressure on the ball, the lack of understanding where the danger is, and nobody picking up the runners. A crazy goal to lose at this level, you don't expect that, and after that you're going uphill. The tempo was slow in the first half. We picked it up a bit in the second, but we huffed and puffed and didn't really get anywhere.

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