Saturday 28th February, 2026 at 8:41pm
Partick Thistle had to settle for a point today at The Wyre Stadium at Firhill, following an attritional 0-0 draw with Arbroath in the Scottish Championship.
There were three changes to the side that faced Dunfermline on Tuesday. Luke McBeth, Ts’oanelo Lets’osa and Alex Samuel all started, with Ben Stanway and Logan Chalmers dropping to the bench. Ben McPherson narrowly missed making the matchday squad after a knock picked up in Tuesday’s game, but the bench was bolstered by the inclusion of versatile defender Ethan Ingram, who arrived on loan from Dundee yesterday.
The first twenty minutes were a cagey affair, with very little happening to get the crowd going. The first opportunity of the game fell Arbroath’s way on nine minutes. Harry Cochrane found himself in space, but his limp effort was no trouble for Josh Clarke in the Thistle goal.
The Jags dominated the ball but did little with it as the Arbroath backline marshalled the Thistle attack well. The home side were patient, if anything too patient, moving the ball around the park without much incision.
Mark Wilson’s men would get their first opportunity on 19 minutes, A tidy pass from Lets’osa allowed Watt to carve an opening out. However, with an Arbroath defender breathing down his neck, Watt was only able to poke a shot at goal that was easily intercepted by Aidan McAdams in the Arbroath net.
The match progressed with a scarcity of incident but the last fifteen minutes of the opening half represented a particularly barren spell, with the only notable moments being a pair of Arbroath bookings.
First, Gavin Reilly was booked on 39 minutes, for a tug on Fitzpatrick in midfield, before Aidan Nesbitt was cautioned for a tackle on O’Reilly a minute before the break.
The resultant free kick was indicative of the half as a whole, with Reading’s free kick no danger to McAdams, who made a confident catch to bring what had been a cerebral first half to an end.
Half-time – Partick Thistle 0 Arbroath 0
Mark Wilson switched things up at half-time, moving to a back four with McBeth and Crawford coming off to be replaced by Chalmers and debutant Ingram.
After a first half for the purists, Arbroath continued where they left off, with Aaron Muirhead entering the book almost immediately from the restart.
The war of attrition rumbled on, with Nesbitt getting the only chance of note in the first fifteen minutes of the second half, drilling a shot wide on the 55 minute mark – a rare sight of goal.
Things livened up on the hour, though, when Thistle had a man sent off. Dan O’Reilly slid in on Harry Cochrane just outside the Thistle box and was adjudged to have caught the former Hearts man with referee Sean Murdoch giving him his marching orders.
Mark Wilson turned to his bench immediately following the sending off, with Ben Stanway and Cale Loughery coming on for Ts’oanelo Lets’osa and Paddy Reading, as Thistle morphed into a 3-4-2 formation.
Bizarrely, the red card was the wake up call Thistle needed, as they started to play with urgency, getting themselves forward more frequently.
On 68 minutes, Aidan Fitzpatrick was teed up by a lovely pass from Ben Stanway which sent him through on goal, looking set to open the scoring. Unfortunately, Fitzpatrick took a touch before dragging his effort wide from about 15 yards out via a deflection.
Arbroath too seemed to be roused from their slumber by the sending off, as the game became more fluid, with both teams smelling blood.
A Red Lichties corner on 75 minutes found Tam O’Brien dashing across the front post area and the visiting skipper’s header from eight yards out forced Josh Clarke into a sharp stop.
Five minutes later, Clarke was the hero once again, getting a hand to Findlay Marshall’s close-range effort and tipping what looked to be a certain goal over the bar.
Arbroath were also reduced to 10 men on 85 minutes, when Tam O’Brien pulled down the onrushing Samuel as he tried to collect a through ball on the edge of the area. The resultant free kick was taken by Oisin Smyth; his arcing shot rattling the woodwork after beating the keeper.
Thistle ramped up the intensity as it looked like a winner might finally be in the offing. The ball found its way back to Smyth two minutes into injury time, but for the second time in quick succession, he bruised the crossbar with a curling shot as the spoils were shared.
Full-time – Partick Thistle 0 Arbroath 0
With St Johnstone’s 3-1 victory over Ayr, the gap at the top of the table has been stretched to five points, with nine games left.
The Jags now have a break from the league, as they travel to Paisley next Sunday to take on St Mirren in the Scottish Cup Quarter-Finals.
Partick Thistle: Josh Clarke; Dan O’Reilly (Sent off, 58′), Lee Ashcroft, Luke McBeth (Ethan Ingram, HT); Paddy Reading (Cale Loughrey, 61’), Aidan Fitzpatrick (Kyle Turner, 77’); Oisin Smyth, Robbie Crawford (Logan Chalmers, HT), Ts’oanelo Lets’osa (Ben Stanway, 61’); Alex Samuel, Tony Watt
Unused Substitutes: Lewis Budinauckas; Cammy Logan, Ricco Diack, Matthew Falconer.
Arbroath; Aidan McAdams; Jack Wilkie, Thomas O’Brien (Sent off, 85′), Aaron Muirhead (Tom Lang, 69′), Craig Watson; Harry Cochrane (Thomas Beadling, 77’), Ryan Flynn, Aidan Nesbitt (Scott Stewart, 69′); Findlay Marshall (Dapo Mebude, 84’), Ryan Dow, Gavin Reilly (Scott Robinson, 77′).
Unused Substitutes: Jordan Pettigrew; Colin Hamilton, David Gold.
Referee: Sean Murdoch
Attendance: 3,693
50/50 draw results
First prize – Cash prize – Ticket No. 291327
Second prize – Chance to take part in crossbar challenge – Ticket No. 288267
By David Forrest
