Saturday 4th January, 2025 at 6:08pm
The New Year arrived in disappointing fashion with Partick Thistle going down 4-1 at The Wyre Stadium at Firhill to Dunfermline Athletic.
With Myles Roberts set to be recalled early by Watford, David Mitchell made a long-awaited return to the sticks and youngster Luis Cameron was on the bench. With Kanayo Megwa back to full fitness, he came in and pushed Kyle Turner into his natural midfield position with Robbie Crawford dropping to the bench.
Dunfermline got the game underway at Firhill, but there was a new home kit for the Jags as the players donned the retro-inspired special Jags Foundation strip emblazoned with names of fans and players alike.
It took just four minutes for Dunfermline to open the scoring, as Lewis McCann’s quite stunning volley from just inside the box soared to the far post and in the side netting.
But just two minutes later LOGAN CHALMERS was played into the box with all the space he could wish for. He took it on his left along the ground with the Pars’ goalkeeper getting a big touch on it but not enough and it squirmed past him to bring it back level early on.
After a hectic start, no huge chances presented themselves for either team for a while. However, come the 20th minute Kane Ritchie-Hosler played a neat long ball down the right which put play into the Thistle box and a close-range shot was turned out well by the feet of Mitchell for a corner.
There was almost a second for Dunfermline shortly afterwards through Ewan Otoo as his strike inside the box thundered off the crossbar before bouncing down to be cleared.
It was 2-1 to the visitors on 35 minutes when a Pars corner was defended by just a 10-man Thistle as Dan O’Reilly was forced to walk to the sidelines despite not receiving any treatment. The corner was delivered around the edge of the six-yard-box where a tangled up Kanayo Megwa and Aaron Comrie tussle for contact on the ball which ends with it in the net.
A few minutes to go until the half and it looked as though a deflection could have seen another Dunfermline goal. Lewis McCann’s shot from outside the box took a huge change of direction upwards off a Thistle body. With Mitchell already in motion from the original shot, the shot-stopper did very well to readjust and punch it out for a corner as it looked to be ready to dip over him and in.
Away ‘keeper Tobi Oluwayemi entered the referee’s book in the first half for timewasting at a goal kick.
Home agony was piled on at the stroke of half-time as the ball was loose in the air deep into the Thistle box. As it came down, Chris Kane was there to meet it with an overhead kick to extend Dunfermline’s lead.
Half time – Partick Thistle 1 Dunfermline Athletic 3
Luke McBeth replaced Charlie Sayers for the second 45.
Minutes in, Thistle looked as though they were getting a penalty as an elbow came down on O’Reilly at the edge of the box, but the referee planted the ball a few yards out for a free-kick. Kyle Turner took it however his attempt was high.
Chris Kane went into the referee’s book for protesting as a Pars player went down under pressure to end a counterattack.
Thistle turned to the bench around 65 minutes, with Robbie Crawford and Terry Ablade replacing Aidan Fitzpatrick and Kanayo Megwa.
The Jags then spent a large period having most of the possession, trying to work their way up and out but the final ball struggled to be found as Dunfermline defended resolutely.
With 15 minutes left a Chalmers cross from the right was met by the jumping Brian Graham however his glancing header flashed wide.
Two minutes later it looked like substitute McBeth had brought Thistle back into things as he headed over Oluwayemi however a visiting head popped up on the line to clear.
A couple of corners and crosses looked promising as Thistle attacked the Pars box much more than they did ours, but the resulting headers were failing to find the net to pull us back into it.
A ball rolled across the face of the Thistle box in the 83rd minute was hammered home by substitute Josh Cooper to rubber stamp the game for Dunfermline.
Mitchell was out to close down and block with five left to play as Dunfermline broke away from the high-sitting backline.
As the last act of the game, Lee Ashcroft flung himself onto the line to divert a shot away from goal.
Full time – Partick Thistle 1 Dunfermline Athletic 4
Teams
Partick Thistle – David Mitchell, Kanayo Megwa (Robbie Crawford 66’), Daniel O’Reilly, Lee Ashcroft, Charlie Sayers (Luke McBeth 46’), Stuart Bannigan, Logan Chalmers (Steven Lawless 84’), Kyle Turner, Aidan Fitzpatrick (Terry Ablade 66’), Scott Robinson (Liam Smith 84’), Brian Graham
Unused substitutes – Luis Cameron (GK), Ben Stanway, Ricco Diack, Matthew Falconer.
Dunfermline Athletic – Tobi Oluwayemi, Aaron Comrie, Tommy Fogarty, Kyle Benedictus, Kieran Ngwenya, Chris Hamilton (Joe Chalmers 66’), Matty Todd (Josh Cooper 74’), Kane Ritchie-Hosler (David Wotherspoon 81’), Ewan Otoo (Craig Clay 66’), Lewis McCann, Chris Kane (Dapo Mebude 66’).
Unused substitutes – Deniz Mehmet (GK), Sam Fisher, Taylor Sutherland, Sam Young,
Referee – Steven Kirkland
By Connor Steel
