Saturday 26th September, 2015 at 3:08pm
Thistle travelled to Fir Park to take on a managerless Motherwell side still seeking the elusive first victory of season, having not scored a goal in over a month. Motherwell, sitting in 10th place prior to kick off, presented an opportunity for Thistle to close the gap between themselves and their opponents.
Thistle made one change to the side which lost narrowly to Ross County last weekend with Robbie Muirhead, who had impressed in each of his first two appearances came into the side at the expense of Ryan Stevenson, who was joined on the bench by Mathias Pogba.
Both teams started in a nervy fashion but it was Motherwell who had the first glimpse of goal when McDonald pounced on a slack Bannigan pass. He slipped in Johnson who saw his shot well saved by Cerny. After a sluggish opening ten minutes, Thistle came into the game strongly but were restricted to efforts from distance that failed to trouble Ripley in the ‘Well goal.
Muirhead was next to have a chance when he connected with Welsh’s free kick but his header glanced over the bar. It was Motherwell, however, who broke the deadlock. Ainsworth picked up the ball wide on the right and skipped past the challenge of Booth. With two attackers lurking at the back post, the ball was met by Frans who could only divert the ball high into his own net.
Thistle were spurred into a greater sense of urgency and Lawless became the latest player to be denied by the woodwork when he collected the ball on the edge of the box and saw his low effort smash off the post.
Welsh was next to advance into the ‘Well penalty box, taking a tumble under a Motherwell challenge, appealing in vain for Thistle’s first penalty in over a year.
Motherwell were close to doubling their lead minutes into the second half as Lionel Ainsworth went on a run through the Thistle team. He was denied by an excellent save from Tomas Cerny, adding another fine stop to his already growing collection.
Thistle introduced Kevin Nisbet and Mathias Pogba to add some more attacking threat to Thistle’s play but the second goal of the game came at the other end. A poor pass from Seaborne put Frans under pressure and, under significant pressure from a pressing Motherwell attacker, his clearance only landed his clearance at the feet of Keith Lasley. He sprayed a pass wide right to Ainsworth who’s cross found McDonald unmarked in the box. Cerny did well to save his initial header but the rebound landed at the feet of the striker to poke the ball into the back of the net.
Thistle were able to get a goal back into the game when Amoo was able to head home from close range following a knock down from Sean Welsh’s corner. With just over 10 minutes left in the game, Thistle threw everything they had at Motherwell with Kevin Nisbet coming closest to grabbing an equaliser with his shot from just outside the box, bouncing off the post with Ripley beaten.
Despite five minutes of injury time, Thistle were unable to find that coveted equaliser and will have to spend another week at the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership.
