Sunday 9th February, 2025 at 9:00pm
4 days on from a midweek stalemate against Aberdeen, Partick Thistle looked to get back on track as they travelled to the capital to face Hearts at the Oriam.
The afternoons opposition had hosted a positive season to this point, headed into the match placed 5th in the standings and whilst not to the heights of their 4th placed finish last season, Eva Olid’s side have claimed important wins over the sides above them to keep them in contention as the SWPL1 season heads towards the split.
The first real opportunity fell to the Jambos in the 7 th minute as Hutchinson came across the park to take over possession before sending in the direct pass central to goal for Wade, her first time effort being stopped by Currie at close range to keep the game level whilst simultaneously pushing Thistle onto the attack.
The early onset of pressure from the hosts was rewarded in the 9 th minute of play as the quick moving passage of play from the back found them into the final third, the assisting pass once more from Hutchinson on the perimeter of the box rolled across the 6 yard box before it fell to Timms who made no mistake of the finish into the bottom corner to award the opener.
From the goal, the period of hearts dominance continued to grow as the game tipped the 25-minute mark as they made a number of threatening attacks from either side, all of which were dealt with by the Thistle shot stopper to keep the Jags in contention.
Play was paused on the half hour mark as Currie was once more called in to deal with the hearts corner. Reaching highest from the crowded box, she clawed the opportunity away from danger but in doing so collided with a Jags jersey, the number 1 falling worse off but was able to continue following treatment.
With the hosts pushing on to their next attack five minutes before the conclusion of the opening half, the cross ball was met with penalty claims as it was contended on if the ball had struck a Thistle jersey, the claims were waved off by official before Currie made the jumping save to force the threat away, being awarded a free kick in the process as she went to ground to take any sting from the attack.
The sounding of the whistle concluded a defensive heavy 45 minutes for Thistle who almost from kick off had been fending off the hearts opportunities. Despite this though, they were far from out of contention with glimmers of chances when on the attack, with Brian Graham’s side looking to be more forward and positive in possession as they looked towards the second half.
The half time break saw 3 changes to the Thistle line up as McCulloch, Gray and Cowan departed for Gibb, King, and Slater, respectively. The second half started in much similar fashion in which the first had concluded, the use of Slater being called upon quickly into her introduction as the substitute had to power out the hearts attack towards the corner flag.
Preceding the hour mark the bench was turned to once more as Boyce was brought into play as Donaldson departed. The hearts dominance continued as the Jags hurtled to shut them down, Timms’ effort firing narrowly high of goal after she worked her way through the defence for Currie to push Thistle onto an attack.
The resulting goal kick gifted Partick Thistle their first threat towards goal as Boyce held up play well to get jerseys further upfront, the passage of playing seeing them into the Hearts box before it fizzled out of reach on the by-line to reset play once more.
The substitutes interjected a fresh idea into a Thistle side who had began to grow more into the game as it drew towards the 70 th minute. Their determination was duly rewarded in the 68 th minute as the corner kick was swung in to a crowded box by Bulloch, floating well beyond the majority in the middle of goal it fell to Boyce who beat her marker at the back post to force the ball into the back of the net for the substitutes 8 th goal of the season, but more importantly to put the Jags back into contention to take something from the tie in the final 20 minutes.
The chances only grew for Thistle as they took advantage of the surrounding space towards the box, the pass finding goal-scorer Boyce on the perimeter of the box whose otherwise goal bound effort rattled the crossbar before bouncing back into play where Longcake couldn’t get it from her feet for the rebound to deny Thistle the lead for the first time in the match.
As the 5 minutes of additional time were signalled, Thistle were once again looking towards the services of Currie of who had been instrumental throughout proceedings, this time coming our to meet the long-distance effort to deny the hosts a late chance at all three points.
The full-time whistle signalled very much a game of two halves for Thistle. Having fended off the relentless pressures from the first 45, the substitutions and change in attack proved vital as they continued to grow into the game, ultimately making use of their created momentum to push the well versed opposition to share the points haul.
The well warranted point gives a welcome boost for The Jags. The next challenge coming back at home against Rangers at home on Sunday February 16 th , kick off 4:10pm.
Partick Thistle: Currie, Richardson, McCulloch (Slater), Falconer, Donaldson (Boyce), Bulloch, Cowan (King), Gray (Gibb), Burchill, Longcake, Sinclair.
