One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

After 70 minutes of dull and ineffectual sparring, this game flared into life in the last 20 minutes. St Johnstone’s quickfire double from Deuchar and Quinn proved to be decisive. However, a suddenly revitalised Thistle pulled one back through Buchanan, had a strong penalty claim turned down, and almost snatched a last gasp equaliser that would have transformed the bleak journey home.

From champagne and caviar on the Champs Elysees to plain claithes and purridge in Perth. McDiarmid Park could never be mistaken for the Parc des Princes. The huge number of advertisements for the builders George Wimpey failed to lay the foundations for any constructive football, although a certain Thistle player with an exotic Italian name did do the sponsors the honour of digging up a truly “wimpey” performance.

Perhaps encouraged by the absence of Martin Hardie’s name from the opposition teamsheet, Thistle started brightly enough, though with rather a strange formation. To accommodate John Robertson next to Alan Archibald in the central defence, and to allow Ryan McStay to continue his previously productive partnership with David Rowson in centre midfield, Gary Harkins was shunted out to right midfield.

Sadly, apart from getting to the back post for a few headers from Stevie Murray’s crosses, he looked as out of place in this role as Sandy Hodge did on one unforgettable occasion at Cappielow, and could not replicate the drive through the middle he demonstrated in the Queen’s Park friendly and the League opener against Stirling Albion.

Since Paul di Giacomo was non-existent in the right striker slot (Mark Roberts having returned to the team as left striker), Thistle were unbalanced, as the only threat was coming down the left with Murray. Serious thought will have to be given to reintroducing Adam Strachan and/or Stevie Connor on the wide right to restore the balance of the team.

Harkins certainly should be fitted in somewhere, and the main debate for Ian McCall and his coaching staff may be as to whether this is at the expense of John Robertson at the back or Ryan McStay in the middle. Given that Robertson had a sound game, whereas McStay was never able to impose himself, the best solution may be to put McStay on the bench, from where he can be a genuine game-changing option. This in turn would mean that it would not be essential for Jimmy Gibson to be among the substitutes, thus freeing up space for such as Scott Chaplain.

To end this long digression, it has to be reported that the inexplicable continued selection of di Giacomo in the starting line-up is becoming a source of increasing disgruntlement among the Firhill faithful. Anyone can have a poor game and that can readily be forgiven, but perceived lack of interest and effort is difficult to take, especially when an enthusiastic terrier like Liam Buchanan is confined to the bench and such as Strachan, Connor and Chaplain (who may not be McFaddenesque worldbeaters but who never give less than 100 per cent) are sitting in the stand.

Back to the game. David Rowson dragged an early shot from the edge of the box wide. Thereafter St Johnstone enjoyed a slight ascendancy and came close from a volley by Dr Kenny Deuchar. Your scribe has never understood the regular criticism of a smooth operator who is strong in the air, good on the ground, scores lots of goals and is rivalled only by Owen Coyle and perhaps Brian McPhee in the amount of grief he has caused to Thistle defences over the past few years. Dr Goals was a handful all afternoon and was later to apply a surgical finish. However, in the first half Robertson and Archie were coping reasonably well, and behind them Tuffey looked confident, catching cleanly and distributing efficiently.

Thistle put together some good moves down the left, generally involving combination play between Twaddle, Roberts and Murray, the most memorable including a spectacular back flick from Marko, who won his fair share of fouls and showed hopeful signs that a return to his best form may not be too far away. None of these moves were to translate into any major concern for Alan Main in the St Johnstone goal.

David Rowson was working tirelessly to make up for the inadequacies of the other midfielders, while the referee was working tirelessly to prevent the game from flowing by constantly penalising the most minor of infringements. There were no really bad tackles by either side in the course of the whole 90 minutes (as witnessed by the lack of bookings), and how the referee managed to award as many free kicks as he did, mostly to St Johnstone, is a total mystery. Thistle were given one free kick in a promising position, but Murray’s touch to Harkins was telegraphed as the only possible option and inevitably the shot was charged down.

After half-time the Thistle fans were gruntled (presumably the opposite of disgruntled) by the introduction of Buchanan for Mr Invisible, while Gibson also replaced McStay. Without doing anything particularly gifted or spectacular, but simply by chasing the ball and any St Johnstone player who happened to be near it, Buchanan’s attitude to began to inspire the rest of the team, while Gibson also settled in well to the task in hand, staying on his feet and avoiding diving into rash challenges.

Thistle had the better of the exchanges in the first part of the second half, and even won a few corners. As these were at the opposite end of the pitch from the travelling support, it was difficult to have a clear view of what was happening in the other penalty box. However, Robertson did seem to get a flick on to one corner to produce Alan Main’s first save of the day. Buchanan had one memorable run along the byeline and Roberts put in a good cross along the six yard line, but there was no one there to finish these chances off. The closest to a goal came when Buchanan at the back post was just unable to touch in a Roberts header from a Murray cross.

St Johnstone were rarely seen as an attacking force in this period. Simon Storey came on to a good game in the second half and made one particularly excellent headed clearance from an awkward cross, followed up by a strong block when the ball was returned. The home side made a bold bid for victory by removing Derek McInnes from central midfield, and replacing him with David Weatherston, an exciting and skilful wide front player signed from Queen’s Park during the close season. This change was to be pivotal in deciding the fate of the game, albeit in unfair circumstances.

In the 72nd minute Weatherston drove in from the St Johnstone right. Both referee and linesman missed a clear handball and he was allowed to continue his run and fire in a shot which was deflected away for a corner. For once neither Archibald nor Robertson (who otherwise both played really well) put in any challenge on Dr Deuchar and, using his head as the syringe, he neatly injected the ball into the far corner of the net. Nevertheless if Thistle had stationed a player on the back post (as for some reason the team seems so reluctant to do, despite the pleading of the fans), the ball was going at such a gentle pace, it could easily have been cleared.

Paul Keegan came on for the labouring Gary Harkins, but before he could touch the ball, St Johnstone hit Thistle with the second leg of the double whammy. This time there could be no complaints about the goal. Weatherston again broke down the right. Twaddle put in a great tackle to thwart his progress, but unluckily the ball ran towards Rocco Quinn at just the right pace and angle for him to wrap his foot round it and fire home a curling shot from 25 yards. It was a supreme piece of skill, but hopefully your reporter is not being unfair on our goalkeeper by questioning whether he could have moved slightly sooner. In the brief half-second before Quinn shot, it was so obvious what he was about to do that anticipatory action could well have been taken.

To Thistle’s credit (although some fans chose this point to leave), they produced a flurry of action round the St Johnstone goal, with the Keegan/Buchanan Little and Large (or Heskey and Owen?) combination up front looking potent, and definitely worthy of consideration for future fixtures. Buchanan’s bravery was rewarded in the 86th minute. It was impossible to see exactly what happened. The ball looped up in the air in the St Johnstone box, and Main and Buchanan jumped together before the ball ended up in the net. It may be that Main under pressure punched the ball against Buchanan, in which case, even if slightly fortuitous, the goal was a fair reward for getting stuck in where it hurts.

This was a prelude to a frantic final five minutes. Murray crashed down in the box. From 100 yards away it looked to be a stonewall penalty, but of course the referee turned a Nelson eye. Then Jonny Tuffey came racing out of his box to beat a St Johnstone forward to a throughball and neatly flick it past him. Having earned a deserved round of applause, Jonny spoiled the effect by lining up as though he was going to take a goal kick at which point the attacker neatly nicked the ball off his toes and almost scored.

There was almost a dramatic turnaround in the 93rd minute when Roberts got a clear shot on goal, but Main flopped on the ball and held it, despite Buchanan’s close attention. The final major action was at the Thistle end when Weatherston threatened again down the right. Tuffey just got to the ball first, but hit it off Weatherston, after which the ball trundled across the face of the goal and thankfully away to safety.

Then it was “Au revoir”, but unfortunately not “Je ne regrette rien”. If Scotland can win in Paris, Thistle can win in Perth, and I hope to be there to see it.

Man of the match: Liam Buchanan/David Rowson