Martin McConnell reports from Firhill after our defeat on Saturday…
Ladbrokes Premiership
Firhill Stadium, Glasgow
Saturday 21st April 2018 at 3pm.
Partick Thistle 2 Hamilton Academical 1
On a day that all three of our relegation rivals picked up some valuable points, we slipped one place down to tenth. We are now three points behind Dundee, two in front of Thistle and three ahead of Ross County to make the next few weeks nail biting to say the least.
Accies boss Martin Canning said, “We were comfortable in the game and at 1-0, with the way that the games going, we shouldn’t lose that game. You expect that we’ll get opportunities after half time. They need to get something from the game, so they have to push and they’ll leave spaces and they’ll leave gaps that we had to go and exploit. And we did that twice within the first ten minutes of the second half and it should have been game over.
But we weren’t clinical enough to take those chances and it ends up game not over. Not only that, but we leave Doolan standing in the middle of the box by himself. Then the second goal again is an individual mistake, a stramash if you like with a chance to clear it. We pretty much lay it back to the edge of the box for the guy to produce a first time strike and ultimately, that’s lost us the game.”
After surviving a first half Partick Thistle onslaught, Accies finished strongly to take a lead in to the break, after David Templeton scored a now trademark strike from just inside the penalty area. But missed chances inevitably allowed Thistle back into the action, Doolan levelled, then minutes later Edwards scored to ensure Thistle took all three precious points.
Hamilton made four changes to the side that started against Killie last week, with David Templeton, Darren Lyon, Marios Ogkmpoe and Ross Jenkins in, while Ali Crawford (injured), Darian MacKinnon and Antonio Rojano (suspended) and Georgios Sarris (injured) missed out on the squad. Thistle made three changes to their line-up, with Cerny, Doolan and Woods replacing Scully, Sammon and Osman.
Thistle started well, the noise of the John Lambie Stand proving a worthy twelfth man during the first half. Accies didn’t see much of the ball early on, with Thistle seemingly raising their game for the occasion. The Hamilton defence dealt with most of the Thistle forays forward until a lapse allowed Doolan an attempt from inside the box, before Woods saved.
Partick grew in confidence, pinning Accies back inside their own half without so much as a sniff. Accies were under siege until a quick Templeton ball for Jenkins then Ferguson, released Ogkmpoe through on goal. Cerny raced out to meet the striker and went to ground, Ogkmpoe took a tumble over him but the referee was having none of the Hamilton appeals.
With just over the half hour gone, an innocuous ball over the top into the no mans land between Cerny and Cargill was won by Ogkmpoe and headed over the keeper’s head, but it had neither the legs nor the direction to give Hamilton the lead. With both teams struggling to produce a chance worthy of any note, the match looked destined for goal less first half.
That changed, when after perhaps Hamilton’s best spell of possession, Dougie Imrie found David Templeton with a wee chip inside. He ran the 20-yards or so straight toward the Thistle goal, took a touch to find a little space, then drove the ball low between a pair of defenders and in at the back post.
Accies opened the second half with a decent move that almost saw Rakish Bingham through on goal. A ball out from defence found Rakish out on the right, his quick cross field pass allowed Templeton to play a one two into the corner of the Thistle penalty area, where the big striker couldn’t quite gather with his outstretched boot.
With almost an hour of the game gone, David Templeton robbed the Thistle midfield for what seemed like the umpteenth time. He was able to pick out the run of Ogkmpoe to set him up with a run in on goal, but his powerful shot from just inside the box was a touch to straight and the keeper blocked.
Thistle pulled themselves level midway through the second half when a cleared corner kick was played back into the box by Callum Booth, where Doolan headed beyond the reach of Gary from 12-yards. Eight minutes later, Thistle’s victory was complete when a goal mouth clearance was struck home by Ryan Edwards from the 18-yard line.
Thistle: Cerny, Booth, Cargill, Keown, Spittal (Barton 90+1), Doolan, Erskine, Lawless (Sammon 55), Elliott, McCarthy (Edwards 64), Woods. Subs Unused: Scully, Osman, McGinn, Storey.
Goals: Doolan 63, Edwards 71.
Cautions: Booth, Cerny.
Accies: Woods, Jenkins, Tomas, Imrie (c), Bingham (Redmond 59), van der Weg (McMann 84), Templeton (Miller 67), Lyon, Ferguson, Want, Ogkmpoe. Subs Unused: Fulton, Scott, Hughes, Cunningham.
Goals: Templeton 42.
Cautions: Lyon, Imrie.
Referee: John Beaton. Assistants:Brian Templeton & Calum Spence. 4th Official: Kevin Clancy.
Attendance: 3839.
