One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

Thistle did their best to battle their way past Rangers to make it into the Scottish Cup semi-finals but despite creating a number of chances in an evenly-contested match, they couldn’t come back from the loss of two first half goals, with the SPL side holding on to run out 2-0 winners.

The injury to Alan Archibald meant Thistle showed one change from the side that had drawn at Ibrox last month, William Kinniburgh coming in to replace the Jags captain. The Rangers team was freshened up considerably following their midweek European exertions, but manager Walter Smith made just three changes from the previous Scottish Cup tie, Weir, Smith, and Burke starting in place of Broadfoot, Adam and Davis.

On the treacherous Firhill surface it was Thistle who came out the blocks the quickest and they should have been in front with just six minutes on the clock when Roberts skipped away from Cuellar and slid the ball into the path of Rowson. McGregor bravely blocked at his feet but the ball fell for Twaddle and on the volley he should have guide the ball into the empty net but instead sent it wide.

Rangers responded with a Thomson free kick that Tuffey had to tip away from the top corner and Dailly headed just over as the visitors slowly began to find their feet. However, Thistle were giving as good as they got in the early stages of the game and in the 17th minute Harkins was heavily involved in some neat interplay to create an opening for Donnelly, but his 18-yard drive fizzed past McGregor’s near post.

Twaddle then saw a free kick deflected narrowly wide, but at the other end Kris Boyd was causing the Jags defence plenty of problems by winning everything in the air and with Novo and Naismith collecting his knock-downs, it was the visitors who slowly started to take a grip of the game.

Tuffey had already made two fairly comfortable saves to deny Boyd and Naismith, but disaster struck for the Jags just before the half hour mark when Burke twisted and turned his way free of Twaddle and fired in a low cross that Novo smashed home from close range to put the visitors in front.

Things got a bit scrappy for a while following the opening goal, then five minutes or so before half time, the game turned on two chances. The first fell to Thistle when Simon Storey’s cross from the right was headed on by Roberts into the path of Donnelly, he hit it sweetly on the volley and it looked to be creeping under McGregor only for him to literally sit on it before gratefully gathering it into his grasp right on the line.

And Thistle were made to pay for that miss when Rangers raced up the other end and poor defending allowed Boyd the space to peel away at the back post to cushion Novo’s cross back into the box where Burke was on hand to head home and double Rangers’ advantage.

The visitors could have wrapped up the win with a third just seconds later when Burke returned the favour by crossing for Boyd, but Tuffey blocked his header and Robertson was able to clear the ball to safety. Naismith had a final chance just on half time, but he blazed his shot well off target from a good position.

If Rangers had grabbed a third it would have been all over for Thistle, but with the second half just a few minutes old it looked as if they would be made to pay when Mark Roberts was tripped by David Weir inside the box and when the well-placed linesman frantically waved his flag to signal a foul, the ref pointed to the spot.

Simon Donnelly stepped up to potentially hand Thistle a lifeline, only to pull his penalty wide and Rangers were off the hook. The visitors had a penalty claim of their own waved away soon afterwards when Kinniburgh blocked Boyd’s shot on the turn, but the ref ignored the shouts of handball from the fans behind the goal.

Steven Naismith should have done better than fire over the bar from Novo’s through ball but it was Thistle who were pressing at this stage of the game and in the 62nd minute Simon Donnelly was again left with his head in his hands when his shot cracked off the bar after he’d picked up possession from Rowson’s blocked shot.

That was his last involvement of the game with McKinlay coming on to replace him as McCall tried to alter his strategy a little in search of a goal. And as Thistle continued to press, they did manage to put the Rangers defence under some pressure.

With 20 minutes remaining Twaddle’s deep cross picked out Chaplain unmarked at the back post, but although he had the time to take a touch and steady himself, he failed to hit the target firing his shot right across the face of McGregor’s goal. Five minutes later he got on the end of Harkins’ free kick and this time the far more difficult chance was never going to test the keeper.

Former Raith and Dundee striker Nacho Novo gave the fans something to shout about as the game headed towards a disappointing conclusion when he was nudged slightly in the back by Harkins and fell to the ground clutching his ankles, fortunately for the Spaniard the ref simply chose to ignore him.

With time fast running out Rangers were handed the opportunity to seal the win from the penalty spot when McKinlay was adjudged to have fouled Burke inside the area, it looked a soft award and justice was done when Tuffey dived to his left to make a fine save to deny Cousin. The Jags keeper was called into action again in the last minute when McCulloch escaped the attentions of Harkins to create space for a shot but his driven shot was superbly turned round the post.

Ian McCall had said before the game he couldn’t promise a win, but could promise that his players would give their all, and they certainly did that today. The players will no doubt be disappointed, but apart from a spell in the first half when Rangers were on top, Thistle matched their opponents and on another day at least one of their chances would have gone in.

In the end, that was the real difference between the sides and the ten minutes either side of half time when Thistle missed two great chances and Burke scored Rangers’ second proved to be crucial.

Man of the match: Gary Harkins

Thistle: Tuffey 7, Storey 6 (Murray 86), Twaddle 6, Donnelly 6 (McKinlay 64), Robertson 6, Kinniburgh 6, Chaplain 6, Rowson 6, Gray 5, Roberts 6 (Keegan 88), Harkins 7.
Unused subs: Hinchcliffe, McStay.

Rangers: McGregor, Whittaker, Cuellar, Weir, S Smith, Dailly, Burke, Thomson, Boyd (Cousin 85), Novo (McCulloch 77), Naismith.
Unused subs: Alexander, Furman.