The Thistle Archive

Media report

15-May-2026, ptfc.co.uk

Partick Thistle’s season rolls on after a 2-1 victory over Dunfermline Athletic in the William Hill Premiership play-off semi-final second leg at The Wyre Stadium at Firhill. The Jags came into the game unbeaten in five prior encounters against Neil Lennon’s men this season, with three wins and two draws including victories in both of the Pars’ visits to Maryhill. Tuesday night’s first leg stalemate at KDM Group East End Park meant the game became a one-match shootout for the right to take on St. Mirren in the play-off final after the Buddies were confirmed as the Premiership’s 11th-placed side in midweek despite a 3-0 victory over Aberdeen. Mark Wilson was hoping to continue his side’s imperious home form, having won 12 and drawn six in an undefeated league campaign at Fortress Firhill, becoming the first second tier side in a decade to achieve the feat. It was Thistle’s sixth undefeated home season, with no SPFL side outside of the Old Firm managing to rack up more in their history. However, Dunfermline’s away form this season has been just as formidable, notching up 25 Championship points on the road – second only to title-winners St. Johnstone in that department. The less good news for the visitors was the recall of goalkeeper Aston Oxborough by Motherwell to provide injury cover for a game against Hibernian this weekend. That necessitated a return to the starting XI for 22-year-old Englishman Billy Terrell. The Jags, on the other hand, voluntarily altered their side with Robbie Crawford and Alex Samuel brought in to replace Ts’oanelo Lets’osa and Tony Watt.

The opening moments of the game picked up where the first leg left off with a frenetic pace, though chances were scarce. The first real opportunity of the game came on eight minutes, and it was Dunfermline who it fell for. Chris Kane passed the ball on for Callumn Morrison, who found himself with space in the box. Morrison was a bit too ambitious though, attempting a first-time hit, which looped over the bar. On 16 minutes, Oisin Smyth was dispossessed by Andrew Tod 30 yards from the Thistle goal. He threaded it through for Kane, who opted go for goal himself. Some good footwork from Kane manufactured space for a left-footed shot but his attempt veered wide with the help of a deflection off Lee Ashcroft. Seconds later, Matty Todd swung in a dangerous corner to a waiting Kieran Ngwenya at the back post, but the former Thistle defender’s header rattled off the post and out for a goal kick as it remained goalless. Thistle’s first clear opportunity came on 21 minutes, when Logan Chalmers picked out Ben Stanway with a superb cross from the right. Stanway, though, couldn’t direct his header into one of the corners as it landed straight in the gloves of Terrell.

It would be the Pars who drew first blood though, scoring on 34 minutes. A poor clearance from Ben McPherson fell to midfielder Charlie Gilmour and he hammered his shot into the ground, finding the far corner of Josh Clarke’s goal. Thistle tried to respond to falling behind immediately like they did on Tuesday, but Dunfermline stood firm as Paddy Reading and Alex Samuel combined in the box. The former’s run got the ball to the latter but Samuel’s cutback bounced off Kieran Ngwenya into the goalkeeper’s arms. With five minutes to go, Thistle were awarded a free kick after Smyth was shoved down by Kane. The Northern Irishman – in the final game of his loan spell – had a go, but couldn’t beat Billy Terrell with a powerful strike. A slew of Thistle corners followed, but the Jags were unable to make a breakthrough as the Pars held on their lead going into the break. Despite some inspiring passages of play, Thistle yielded no return before half time, with a mountain left to climb.

Mark Wilson turned to his bench at the interval, with Tony Watt coming on for Robbie Crawford as the Jags transitioned to a flat 4-4-2 and sought to turn the screw. The changes bore fruit five minutes into the second half when Thistle equalised through a goal which was heavily influenced by Watt. The former Dundee United man glided past Charlie Gilmour in the middle of the park and fed a ball through to Oisin Smyth who had a shot smothered by the outrushing ‘keeper. A touch from Pars midfielder Alfons Amade prevented Terrell from picking the ball up and instead forced him into a rushed clearance which ricocheted against Alex Samuel and fell into the path of Logan Chalmers who finished into an empty net. There was almost an instant response from the away side, akin to what Thistle produced in the first leg. Chris Kane laid the ball off to Callumn Morrison at the edge of the box allowing the winger to unleash a shot on goal which narrowly whistle by Josh Clarke’s left-hand post. The momentum then swung back into the hosts’ favour and Tony Watt had half a chance to put them in front when Alex Samuel teed him up for a shot from 15 yards out, however, Watt miskicked the ball and his attempt flew out towards the corner flag. Watt was involved again on 63 minutes when his perfectly weighted pass set up Logan Chalmers for a one-on-one chance but the 26-year-old put his right-footed shot past the near post.

A head knock for Dan O’Reilly and a lower body issue for Ben McPherson led to them being replaced by Cale Loughrey and Cammy Logan respectively and Logan was quickly involved in the attacking play when he led a counter-attack which ended with a Tony Watt cross being cleared straight to Chalmers whose volley across goal was excellently flicked away by the head of Jeremiah Chilikoa-Mullen. There were shouts for a penalty on 75 minutes when Ben Stanway went down under Charlie Gilmour’s challenge but referee Calum Scott was unmoved and Thistle would be glad of that when second later, a long ball into the box from Cammy Logan caused indecision in the Dunfermline box. That indecision was seized upon by Alex Samuel who headed the bouncing ball over a stranded Billy Terrell and into the back of the net. The Pars threw plenty at it in the final 15 minutes as they endeavoured to find a leveller but even with attacking reinforcements introduced, the Jags stood strong. With more than 6,000 Thistle fans in attendance, the stadium was rocking and the stands erupted after five minutes of added time when the referee blew the final whistle. Thistle advance to the William Hill Premiership final for the second time in the SPFL era and will face St. Mirren over two legs, starting next Thursday at 8pm.

Reaction

'The Thistle'

We wanted a quick start after the other night. I thought we were pretty good the other night. We spoke about how quickly we needed to start to sustain that finish to the game that we had, and I don’t think we did. I thought Dunfermline looked the better side, I thought they looked dangerous. We just couldn’t play through them. The quality on the ball was poor. And I’ll be honest, I thought when they scored, they deserved to score. You could almost sense the goal coming. Too many crosses into the box, repeatedly, without any pressure. So, hugely disappointed at that period. And then after that we create one or two wee opportunities, but still not what we were looking for. So half-time, you need to make a decision, and it was stick or twist. Decided to twist, bring Tony [Watt] on. I wasn’t in the plan, that. We were going to utilise Tony a wee bit later in the game. But he’s a big player, so he has to come on and we have to change the shape. And I thought he was magnificent, and there was a real energy about us in the second half. I thought we were the better team in the second half. One of the goals, a wee bit fortuitous how it played out. But you have to put the ball into their box, and that was the message at half-time. We had to create more, put them under pressure as a backline more. I thought the guys did that. I’ve got huge belief in what we’ve done all season and it just breeds confidence. It’s not to say that we’re going to go there and blow St Mirren away. We are confident in what we are doing here. We believe in the system, we believe in all the stuff it’s got us to this place. So, we’re in a good place. The dressing room was buzzing. And we’ll just keep rolling that into the next game.

Dunfermline manager Neil Lennon (speaking to dafc.co.uk):

We had good chances. And that’s probably been symptomatic of us the last few weeks. I thought we had good chances in the first-leg to take a lead here. And certainly we should have been more than 1-0 up at half-time. Then the manner of the goals we conceded are really sore, and avoidable. I didn’t think we played as well as we could have but I didn’t think Thistle played as well as they could have either. There was nothing in the game really and it’s come down to mistakes – and that’s sometimes the tension of the play-offs. We’ve had a great season. It’s a pity it’s stopped now and in the manner that it’s stopped as well, in terms of the league. A consolation, if you want to call it that, is we’ve got a cup final to look forward to next week but I’m bitterly disappointed. Congratulations to Thistle. If any team deserved it, it was them because they were so far ahead of everyone else in the league. They pushed St Johnstone a long, long way and they were well clear of ourselves and Arbroath. So, they probably deserve to be in the play-off final.

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