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Partick Thistle FC
Partick Thistle FC

Irn-Bru Scottish Football League Division 1
Tue 16 April, 2013. Kick Off: - 19:45
Firhill Stadium, Glasgow.

Partick Thistle FC
Partick Thistle
1
Scott Fox
2
Stephen O'Donnell
3
Aaron Sinclair
4
Stuart Bannigan
5
Andy Dowie
6
Conrad Balatoni
7
Sean Welsh
8
James Craigen (Christie Elliott (15), 75 mins)
9
Kris Doolan (Steven Craig (14), 80 mins)
10
Ross Forbes (Steve Lawless (16), 58 mins)
11
Chris Erskine
 
Subs
12
Glen Daniels
14
Steven Craig
15
Christie Elliott
16
Steve Lawless
17
Alan Archibald
Raith Rovers
1
David McGurn
2
Jason Thomson
3
Eddie Malone
4
Simon Mensing
5
Laurie Ellis (Dougie Hill (16), 61 mins)
6
Ross Callachan
7
Joe Cardle (Grant Anderson (12), 81 mins)
8
Allan Walker (Stuart Anderson (14), 73 mins)
9
Brian Graham
10
Greig Spence
11
Joe Hamill
 
Subs
12
Grant Anderson
14
Stuart Anderson
15
Josh Watt
16
Dougie Hill
17
Jordan Roberts
 
Subs
12
Glen Daniels
14
Steven Craig
15
Christie Elliott
16
Steve Lawless
17
Alan Archibald
 
Subs
12
Grant Anderson
14
Stuart Anderson
15
Josh Watt
16
Dougie Hill
17
Jordan Roberts
Match Preview

Partick Thistle v Raith Rovers – 16th April 2013

Today could be a special day for Partick Thistle. A dramatic conclusion to our match with Airdrie United at the weekend coupled with Morton losing at home to Dunfermline means that three points tonight against Raith Rovers will confirm Thistle as this season’s First Division champions.
If that sentence isn’t enough to get the pulse rate rising then nothing will.
Although kick-off remains a good few hours away there is already a palpable sense of excitement growing at the prospect of potentially clinching the title in front of our own fans. Said manager Alan Archibald when speaking to [link:HOME] a little earlier this morning.
“We’re desperate to win the league at Firhill. We feel that the fans deserve that. People often talk about the difference that fans make but don’t always mean it. It really has been the case with the Thistle fans this season though. A perfect example of it I think was the last game with Raith Rovers when we went down to ten men. The support we got that night really helped us come out of the game with what could prove to be a really important point.”
Alan continued;
“Tonight’s match will be a difficult one but we’ve almost a full squad to select from. The only ones that will be missing are those that have missed the most recent matches. Paul Paton’s stepped up his training and he is desperate to get back playing before the end of the season but tonight’s game will come too soon for him. Hopefully he will be back for the weekend though. Tonight’s game will come too soon for Jordan McMillan as well although he is back training. Jordan did really well in the game he played in he played in and its’ been a frustrating time for him.”
Alan went on;
“We left Chris Erskine out on Saturday purely to rest him. He’d played in virtually every minute of every game recently and with him having had a wee back injury we thought on the surface at Airdrie that it was best to he took a place on the bench. He’ll come into contention for a start tonight. I was really pleased too for Christie Elliott on Saturday. He’s becoming something of a super sub at the moment. He really seems to add some energy to our  performances when he comes on.”
Partick Thistle Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W            D             L              F              A
3              2*           0              6              3
(* one of the draws ended in a 6-5 defeat on penalties)
Scorers Season 2012-2013
Kris Doolan 15
Steven Craig 14
Chris Erskine 14
Steven Lawless 13
Conrad Balatoni 6
Stuart Bannigan 4
Ross Forbes 4
Aaron Muirhead 4
James Craigen 2
Christie Elliott 2
Stephen O’Donnell 2
Aaron Sinclair 2
Sean Welsh 2
Own Goal 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday April 13th 2013
Airdrie United 1, Partick Thistle 2
Raith Rovers Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W            D             L              F              A
2              1              2              6              7
Scorers Season 2012-2013
Brian Graham 25
Greig Spence 15
Pat Clarke 8
Allan Walker 6
Grant Anderson 5
Douglas Hill 4
Simon Mensing 2
David Smith 1
Own Goal 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday April 13th 2013
Raith Rovers 0, Cowdenbeath 1
Last Meeting
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Tuesday April 2nd 2013
Raith Rovers 0, Partick Thistle 0
Teams
Raith Rovers: McGurn, Thomson, Ellis, Murray (Malone), Mensing, S Anderson, G Anderson, Walker, Graham, Spence, Hamill (Cardle).
Thistle: Fox, O’Donnell, Sinclair, Bannigan, Muirhead, Balatoni, Welsh, Craigen, Doolan (Craig), Lawless (McMillan), Erskine.
Crowd: 1,761
Match Details
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Tuesday April 16th 2013
Partick Thistle v Raith Rovers
Kick-off: 7:45pm
Prices
Adults: £17
OAP (65+): £12
16-21: £12
Full Time Education: £12
Programme: £2.50
Match Officials
Referee: Kevin Clancy
Assistant Referees: John Gilmour and Howard Wilkin
Other First Division Fixtures
Falkirk v Dumbarton
Livingston v Hamilton Accies

Match Report

Partick Thistle v Raith Rovers – 16th April 2013

The champagne remains on ice; at least for a few more days. Three times previously this season Raith Rovers had proven to be very tough opponents and so they proved to be once more in a game that they could, and probably should, have established an early lead in.
After the last minute heroics at Airdrie manager Alan Archibald made just one change to his side for this game. Chris Erskine was handed a start with Steven Craig taking up the position on the bench that Erskine had occupied at the weekend.
If there were any nerves around in the Thistle ranks they weren’t helped any by Rovers missing a gilt edged opportunity inside the game’s first 30 seconds. A no more than hopeful ball forward left Brian Graham with just Scott Fox to beat but the normally reliable Graham knocked his effort wide of goal.
Three minutes later and Rovers again came close. Greig Spence the player to spurn an excellent opportunity though in truth it was a fine save from Scott Fox that prevented him from scoring.
It took Thistle a bit of time to recover from that and they were just starting to show signs of settling when Rovers once more passed up a one on one opportunity. Thistle gave away possession in midfield far too cheaply following a free kick and that allowed Spence a clear run at goal. The Rovers striker, however, was again thwarted by an excellent Scott Fox save.
It was probably only really in that opening 15 minutes that Rovers carried that much of a threat but Thistle were more than a little fortunate to emerge from that period unscathed.
The rest of the half, indeed the majority of the remainder of the game, was dominated by Thistle with McGurn by far the busier of the two goalkeepers. James Craigen was the first Thistle player to truly test him with the flag going up for offside after the rebound fell to Kris Doolan.
Chris Erskine shot wide as Thistle stepped up the pressure and a Kris Doolan header from a Sean Welsh cross went over the bar.
Just past the half hour mark Chris Erskine saw another effort go over the bar before, in the 33rd minute, Thistle came the closest yet to establishing a lead. Kris Doolan did tremendously well to turn inside the Rovers box but he saw his shot saved by McGurn at his right hand post.
Still Thistle pressed and in the 39th minute perhaps should have been in front. McGurn was forced to touch away a teasing Ross Forbes cross but the bell fell to Kris Doolan. Doolan though was stretching to reach it and in doing so could only knock the ball over the bar to stifle the shouts of ‘goal’ from the crowd.
Thistle had one more opportunity before the break with McGurn once more forced into action; this time saving from Chris Erskine.
As Thistle dominance continued after the break so too did the frustration grow at the failure to find the goal that would be enough to clinch the title.
Steven Lawless was introduced for Ross Forbes in the 58th minute and he seemed to inject new life into the Thistle attack. Indeed Lawless was involved in the move, just four minutes after coming on, that produced Thistle’s clearest scoring opportunity of the second half. He touched the ball into the path of Chris Erskine but despite a clear look at goal Erskine couldn’t hit the target.
It wasn’t long though before McGurn was again in the thick of the action, making two excellent saves, the first from Steven Lawless and the second from Kris Doolan, just seconds apart from each other. He saved too, low to his right, to prevent a Stephen O’Donnell shot from sneaking in after O’Donnell and Erskine had combined down the left.
The longer the game went on though the more you began to sense that this wasn’t going to be Thistle’s night. Steven Lawless dragged a shot wide and Christie Elliott saw his effort from the edge of the box fly straight into the arms of the waiting McGurn as the clock edged ever near to the 90 minute mark.
When the final whistle sounded after three minutes of injury time there was a real sense of disappointment that the league hadn’t been won. However, a nine point lead with three games to play, plus a vastly superior goal difference, is still an incredibly strong position to be in and one that nobody associated with Thistle would have turned their noses up at had they been offered it at the start of the season.

Match Reaction

Partick Thistle v Raith Rovers – 16th April 2013

To say that everyone was a little disappointed at the end of last night’s game would be something of an understatement. In the immediate aftermath of the 0-0 draw with Raith Rovers it was perhaps forgotten, just for a short time, that the point gained established a 9 point lead with just 3 games to go. As manager Alan Archibald said when speaking to [link:HOME] after the game that’s a position that we have jumped at had we been offered it at the start of the season.
“We would have been delighted with this situation but we’re still disappointed tonight because we wanted to wrap it up in front of our own fans nit it wasn’t to be. The silver lining is that we would have been delighted with this position at the start of the season.”
A poor start to the game nearly saw Rovers open the scoring on not one, not two but on three occasions and there was praise for Scott Fox who earlier in the day had signed a new two year contract at the Club.
“He was outstanding”, said Alan in reference to Scott.
“We could have been 3-0 down inside the first ten minutes. That was probably the worst ten minutes that we’ve played out there all season to be honest. We were a bit shaky and credit to Scott Fox he’s done that all season for us. I said at the time when he was injured that you don’t realise how good a goalkeeper is, and what a presence he has, until he’s not there. I don’t mean that as any disrespect to Graeme Smith, who came in and did really well, but I just think that when your goalkeeper and defence have the kind of relationship where the defence has confidence in the goalkeeper and he in turn has confidence in his defence then you have a real asset; and that’s the kind of relationship Scott and his defence have.”
Alan continued;
“I’m delighted that he has signed a new deal. He’s the kind of player that when he’s out injured people go ‘well it’s just Foxy’ but the wee bad spell we had this season was when he was out the team.”
Although we didn’t get the win we so desperately wanted last night there could be no faulting the effort from the players.
“The players gave everything; they’ve played a lot of games. After about 25 minutes I thought that we bossed the game and that it was just a matter of time before we scored but things bounced about and bobbled about and just didn’t fall for us.”
After three tough league games with Raith Rovers in the league prior to last night’s game Alan always knew that last night’s match would be a difficult one.
“We stressed to the players about how hard this game was going to be. They probably should have got a point the last time they were here when we stole a 3-2 win I thought when a draw would probably have been a fair result. So we knew how hard it was going to be, they are well organised and they are a good team.”
Focus now turns to Falkirk on Saturday and another chance to wrap up the title comfortably before the end of the season.
“We’re disappointed tonight but at the same time we probably shouldn’t be. We know have a chance to go and clinch the league at Falkirk with two games still to play. The boys have been fantastic and a real credit. I don’t know just how many games that they’ve played over the last six weeks and you think that they must be running on empty but they just keep on going. It feels as if the players have been in every Sunday for the last 8-12 weeks and. It feels as if they’ve never been away from the place; it will be nice to get a rest next week.”

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