One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

Thistle lost 2-0 away at Hamilton today but they were not the only ones who lost out – the same applies to every fan who had the misfortune to attend what was a truly awful match. Those fans still suffering hangovers after last nights excellent Hall of Fame induction (not including me, I hasten to add) may have been particularly sceptical about their decision to abandon the warmth of indoors and ‘Soccer Saturday’ for the delights of a very cold New Douglas Park.

Manager Ian McCall unsurprisingly went with the same team who had started last weeks long overdue win at Broadwood, and Thistle did begin the game reasonably well, without creating any real chances. Marc Twaddle found himself in a few promising positions down the Thistle left, but unfortunately his delivery into the box was consistently poor. Liam Buchannan also had a half-chance with a near post header from a Gary Harkins free-kick, but he was unable to direct it on target.

As you would expect from a team sitting at the top of the league, Accies started to come more into the game, and after 15 minutes Thistle were fortunate to escape after James McCarthy had lobbed Hinchcliffe only to shoot straight at the covering Harkins. Another warning was issued by David Winters, who shot over when clean through.

At this stage a goal for Accies was certainly looking likely, and Richard Offiong obliged after 25 minutes. It was an excellent finish from the edge of the area, but he really should have been closed down by one of our defenders. It seemed Offiong scoring this goal wasn’t actually enough to alert our defence to the fact that showing him inside was a bad idea, as he nearly repeated it ten minutes later, but this time his low shot was straight at Hinchcliffe.

Hamilton ended the first half as the dominant team and that certainly did not change after the interval (note to Hamilton’s pie procurer – as if the game itself wasn’t bad enough, this customer was not happy at all). Thistle did manage to register a shot on target – their only one – just after the restart, but Chaplain’s shot from the edge of the area was easily saved by Bryn Halliwell.

For the home side, McCarthy then shot wide from a similar position, before Offiong planted a free header straight into the arms of Hinchcliffe in the Jag’s goal. At this stage it was one way traffic towards the away goal, although Hamilton were not creating that many chances.

Thistle were failing to maintain any sort of presence in the Accies half, something they had at least manager for spells in the first 45 minutes. Substitutes Stevie Murray and Kevin McKinlay were introduced but were unable to make much impact, with Thistle seemingly incapable of holding on to possession. David Rowson, once again our best player, shot over from the edge of the box, but shortly after the game was put beyond Thistle’s grasp.

Accies’ physical superiority ensured they were always a threat at set-pieces, and it was from a corner that their second goal arrived after 77 minutes. It was a simple goal, with centre-half Chris Swailes heading powerfully past Hinchcliffe with no marker in sight.

It had become abundantly clear during this dismal second half that there was no chance of Thistle scoring, and if anything it was Hamilton who looked more likely to score again. Accies substitute and ex-Thistle dud Stuart Taylor scoring would have been the perfect finale to a miserable afternoon, but Hinchcliffe was able to deny him from close range. Rowson had another go from outside the area with the game in injury-time, but it was defected wide.

On the evidence of today, it is easy to see why Hamilton remain top of the league – they may not be especially good to watch (‘functional’ is maybe the word that describes them best) but they are extremely well organised, strong at the back and have a couple of dangerous individual players like Offiong. As for Thistle, it looked like no-one in our team thought we had any chance of winning this match, and in the end we just did not compete.