Saturday 29th August, 2026 at 9:15pm
A frustrating day at the office saw the spoils shared in the Glasgow Derby as Partick Thistle slugged out a 0-0 draw with Queen’s Park at the WrightKerr Stadium at Firhill in the Scottish Championship on Saturday.
The two sides were certainly well-acquainted with each other, with this game being the 21st fixture between the two sides in the last four years.
The Jags came into the tie second in the table and still undefeated, after claiming a point away to Inverness last week to add to their two opening wins. The visitors, on the other hand, were rooted to the bottom of the table, having failed to pick up any points from their first three games.
It was an unchanged Thistle starting line-up from the one which drew in the Highlands last Friday, but Gary Mackay-Steven was absent from the bench after picking up a knock.
Thistle’s first chance came on the three minute mark when some excellent link-up between Ben McPherson and Seb Drozd got the former into some space in the Spiders’ box. The full-back squared it to Alex Samuel who uncharacteristically thrashed wide from six yards out.
It didn’t take long for Queen’s Park to be pegged back into their defensive third. The beleaguered Southside outfit were setting themselves up to be as hard to break down as possible, utilising many of the footballing dark arts in the process. Indeed, their ‘keeper Jack Wills was admonished for timewasting as little as ten minutes into the game, with a five-count administered by the referee.
On the eleventh minute, Thistle were in full flow as Aidan Fitzpatrick drove infield off the left sideline, exchanging several one-twos before teeing up McPherson for a shot. The former Queen’s Park loanee has a clean look at goal but sliced his shot off target.
The Jags monopolised the ball but lacked a cutting edge in front of goal as the away side continued to stifle them with every body behind the ball for large parts of the game.
On 25 minutes, Thistle won a free kick in dangerous space after Fitzpatrick was fouled by Ross McLean. Ben Stanway stepped up to take a well-drilled shot, but it hardly troubled Wills in the Queen’s Park goal.
It was clear the Jags were going to need a bit of invention if they were to make the breakthrough. Ts’oanelo Lets’osa went for an audacious bicycle kick on 35 minutes that very few would have predicted the midfielder had in his locker. Unfortunately for Lets’osa, his shot arced a little too highly, going just over the bar, denying him a sensational goal.
Thistle were digging deep into their box of tricks in search of something to break the deadlock. On 38 minutes, Fitzpatrick swung a corner with pinpoint precision towards Stanway who was at the edge of the box in an almost identical position to the one he took up when he scored on the volley against St. Mirren in the Scottish Cup last season. This time he opted to take a touch and saw his effort charged down by a defender.
Five minutes before the break, Stanway was at it again, getting on the end of a ball from Drozd, however, his header was straight at Wills who clutched the ball gratefully.
With seconds to go in the half, Thistle really should have taken the lead when Aidan Fitzpatrick produced some more creativity on the left flank. His cut back into the box picked out Ben McPherson who rifled a shot goalwards that thundered back off the crossbar and away from danger.
It was symptomatic of a half which saw Thistle dominate proceedings without ever finding the killer moment to take the lead.
Half-Time – Partick Thistle 0 Queen’s Park 0
The second period picked up where the first half had left off with the Maryhill Men on the front foot and Cale Loughrey had a header well saved by Jack Wills within three minutes of the restart.
On the 50-minute mark, Drozd looked like he might open the scoring after turning his marker Magnus Mackenzie inside out, leaving him on his backside. He sent a shot across goal which lacked the necessary curl and whistled narrowly wide of the far post.
Wilson opted to change things up before too long, bringing on Tony Watt for Lets’osa, as the Jags went for a two-man partnership up front in hope of unpicking the Queen’s Park lock.
Play was becoming scrappier, as the travelling Spiders continued to frustrate the Thistle frontline with a solid defensive performance but an Aidan Fitzpatrick free-kick almost broke the deadlock. The winger teased a dangerous ball into the box which was met by a diving Dan O’Reilly but the Irishman’s headed effort was batted away by Jack Wills.
With twenty minutes to go, more changes were made, with Ben Dempsey and Robbie Crawford coming on for Oisin Smyth and Stanway as Thistle continued to knock on the door.
A succession of corners had the visitors with their backs to the wall, as Wills once again served as the Spiders’ saviour. After a poor clearing header, Watt charged onto the ball to head goalwards and the former St. Johnstone man turned it round the post.
Ethan Ingram came on with 10 minutes to go, replacing Fitzpatrick. Drozd moved over to the left as Ingram took his place on the right wing, with support from McPherson.
As the clock ticked down, it was still one-way traffic for Thistle, but Queen’s Park were managing the game well enough. With five minutes left, Tony Watt danced his way down the right, leaving two defenders in his dust. The forward carved out enough space to have a left-footed shot at goal but was inches away from the target as another chance went begging.
Then, with seconds to go in stoppage time, it looked like the Jags might finally get the breakthrough they deserved. Ingram swung a lovely low ball into the six-yard box for the lurking Robbie Crawford who, on the bounce, couldn’t keep his effort down.
Despite racking up 20 shots to the visitors’ one, the lack of an end product meant Thistle had to settle for a point.
Full-Time – Partick Thistle 0 Queen’s Park 0
Thistle are next in action on Saturday when they welcome Ayr United to the WrightKerr Stadium at Firhill.
Teams:
Queen’s Park: Jack Wills; Magnus Mackenzie (Ben Brannan, 62’), Ricki Lamie, Euan Murray, Carlo Pignatiello; Louis Longridge (Aiden McCallion, 80’), Scott Martin (Zach Mauchin, 75’); Nikolay Todorov (Jack Hamilton, 62’), Ross McLean, Aidan Connolly; Michael Ruth (Lewis Stewart, 82′).
Unused Substitutes: David Mitchell; Oliver Fisher, Tyrece McDonnell. Zebedee Lawson.
Partick Thistle: Liam McFarlane; Paddy Reading, Dan O’Reilly, Cale Loughrey, Ben McPherson; Oisin Smyth (Robbie Crawford, 74’), Ts’oanelo Lets’osa (Tony Watt, 55’), Ben Stanway (Ben Dempsey, 74’); Seb Drozd, Aidan Fitzpatrick (Ethan Ingram, 80’), Alex Samuel.
Unused Substitutes: Lewis Budinauckas; Cammy Logan, Matthew Falconer, Steven Docherty, Josh Miller.
Referee: Calum Scott
Attendance: 3,911
