 Media report |
Partick Thistle’s season will come down to a shootout on Monday night, following a 1-1 draw against St. Mirren in the William Hill Premiership play-off final first leg at The Wyre Stadium at Firhill. The Jags earned the right to take on the Buddies, who finished 11th in the Scottish top flight, by beating Dunfermline Athletic 3-2 over two legs in the play-off semi-finals. There were three changes to the side which started the second leg against the Pars with the first one seeing vice-captain Dan O’Reilly drop out of the squad due to a head knock sustained last Friday – he was replaced by Cale Loughrey. Oisin Smyth was ineligible to face his parent club and Luke McBeth took his spot in the Thistle engine room while Tony Watt stepped in for Ben Stanway who missed out through injury. Like Smyth, Fraser Taylor was also ineligible and Ethan Ingram, Dan MacKay and Ricco Diack all remained on the treatment table.
Allan Campbell had a shot blocked in the Jags’ box after four minutes but the game’s first real chance fell the way of the home side five minutes later. Aidan Fitzpatrick shifted away from Mark O’Hara on the left side of the St. Mirren area and fired a shot across goal, however, his attempt flashed wide of Ross Sinclair’s far post. It was less of a frenetic opening than in either leg against Dunfermline, with St. Mirren looking more in control through the opening 20 minutes. Killian Phillips chested the ball down in the area for Campbell, but the midfielder’s volley sailed over. When the Jags got up the park, though, their opportunities looked dangerous as the first half rumbled on. On 23 minutes, a poor header from Richard King was pounced upon by Alex Samuel. Sinclair was quick to react, blocking the shot as the ball rebounded off Samuel and out for a goal kick. Just after the half hour, Thistle had another golden chance. Watt and Crawford worked together to steal the ball from Jacob Devaney and Watt rushed towards the Buddies’ box. He took his shot on from 18 yards with Sinclair able to spoon it away from goal. Aidan Fitzpatrick got to the rebound but had his shot blocked. The visitors edged in front with six minutes left of the opening period as their front two linked up nicely. Mikael Mandron manoeuvred away from Cale Loughrey and fed the ball into the feet of Killian Phillips who steadied himself before guiding a shot into the bottom corner. Thistle had a chance to restore parity before half-time but when Aidan Fitzpatrick’s corner landed on Lee Ashcroft’s head, the home skipper glanced it wide.
Mark Wilson switched it up at half-time, with Logan Chalmers coming off in favour of Ts’oanelo Lets’osa, as the Jags switched to a 3-4-3 formation. Five minutes after the restart, there was a hair-raising moment when Josh Clarke was dispossessed by Mandron inside his box. The Saints were unable to capitalise though, with Campbell attempting to chip into the net from the edge of the box, ballooning his chance wide. Thistle were getting more possession, but with their threadbare midfield options, they were struggling to find that clinical edge as a Watt header over the bar proved to be the only chance on offer before Ben McPherson was subbed for Cammy Logan. Thistle had another let off on 61 minutes when a slack back pass from Reading saw Mandron slink his way between two Thistle defenders. The ex-Motherwell man drove at the Jags’ goal, but his limp finish was gathered by Clarke. Seconds later, though, the Jags would break through, levelling the tie. Logan supplied Watt, who jinked his way in on the right wing as Thistle crowded the box. Watt then picked out Fitzpatrick, lurking around the penalty spot and the winger tucked home with ease from six yards out. Thistle pressed for a winner, but as the teams tired, the game started to fizzle out. With a quarter of an hour to go, Fitzpatrick drilled an inviting low cross across the face of goal, begging to be tapped home, but there was no one on hand to take up the opportunity as it went begging. McBeth and Fitzpatrick came off in the final ten minutes, with Kyle Turner and Gary Mackay-Steven taking their place. The final moments saw little in the way of chances, outside of a Roland Idowu mazy run, which was handled impeccably by Clarke. Mackay-Steven looked poised to grab a crucial late winner deep in stoppage time, but his shot cracked off the base of the post, before it was revealed that he was offside, as the game finished level. The Jags’ attention now turns to the final game of the 2025/26 campaign, when they travel to Paisley on Monday for a winner-takes-all clash in the second leg, with kick off at 8pm.
 Reaction |
Thistle manager Mark Wilson (speaking to the BBC):
We were ok first half, had a few chances but we were too open in the midfield. St Mirren exploited that and that's where the goal came from. I had to correct that at half time. It was a tough choice taking off one of our best players this season in Logan Chalmers to secure the midfield a bit better. But I thought it was effective. We controlled the majority of the second half and scored a very good goal. We were unfortunate not to get the second as well.
St Mirren interim manager Craig McLeish (speaking to the BBC):
A bit of a game of two halves. I felt in the first half we carried out our gameplan pretty well, sustained pressure, a lot of corners, we created some chances. Maybe nothing too clear cut other than the goal. We were under a bit of pressure second half, then once they tire it opens back up again. We know what's at stake, we're not behind in the tie.
Ben McPherson
Cammy Logan
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