Saturday 27th April, 2013 at 9:47pm
Dunfermline came close to spoiling the Firhill party a little only for Thistle to once again demonstrate their never say die approach and rescue a point with a goal deep into injury time.
There had been, however, little sign of a potential surprise result in a first half that was almost completely dominated by Thistle. For all that dominance though Thistle held only a one goal advantage at half-time. That goal was scored former Dunfermline player Jordan McMillan who was making his first start as a Partick Thistle player. His goal arrived in the 27th minute. Chris Erskine spotted McMillan to his right and he was able to lay the ball into his path. With just Hrivnak to beat McMillan drilled the ball low into the net. In contrast to the celebrations in the stands; McMillan’s own celebration, showing respect to his former club and team mates, was more muted.
Although Thistle enjoyed long spells of possession and had Dunfermline firmly on the back foot McMillan’s goal was the only clear cut opportunity that they had in the first half. There wasn’t a great deal of activity in front of the Thistle goal either in the first half although Josh Falkingham came close with a deflected shot as the half-time whistle neared.
There was no shortage, however, of action in the second 45 minutes with an impressive Dunfermline performance causing Thistle no end of problems. Dunfermline had already missed two gilt edged chances in the second half before they did finally equalise in the 65th minute. Alan Smith saw his shot cleared off the line in the 55th minute with Falkingham somehow knocking the loose ball wide when a goal looked certain. Two minutes later Scott Fox made a fine stop to deny Ryan Wallace as the Thistle defence was again opened up.
The equaliser when it arrived was, therefore, a deserved one. Husband was able to fine Wallace who after taking a touch to steady himself sent the ball into the back of the net.
Four minutes later Dunfermline were close to taking the lead only for Fox to make another important save; this time to prevent Thomson from scoring.
A second Dunfermline goal though would soon follow although there was a hint of controversy surrounding it. Scott Fox did well to parry Ryan Wallace’s shot but Ryan Thomson was able to knock the ball home with the referee not seeing an apparent tug on Andy Dowie.
Dunfermline looked well on course for three points when they added a third goal with just ten minutes of the game remaining when Thomson headed home from close range following a corner from the left.
This Thistle side, however, don’t know when they are beaten and with 7 minutes remaining they hauled themselves right back into the game. Chris Erskine, making his final appearance at Firhill as a Partick Thistle player, squeezed the ball home after a neat interchange with Kris Doolan.
With the game heading into a 5th minute of injury time it didn’t look as if Thistle would complete a remarkable comeback but there was still time for one more chance. Steven Craig, on the left hand side, did well to get the ball back into the box and when his cross wasn’t cleared Steven Lawless was able to steer the ball into the net to complete the scoring for the afternoon and maintain Thistle’s unbeaten league record under Alan Archibald.
