One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

An 88th minute winner from Stevie Murray sent Thistle through against our old friends from Airdrie in the CIS cup tonight. Extra time had appeared inevitable until the ex-Killie winger’s intervention, and it brought widespread relief amongst the fans who had watched Airdrie equalise and push Thistle back in the second half.

With the game not being included in the season ticket, there was a 15 minute delay to kick off in order to allow the crowd to take their seats. Ian McCall made two changes to the team that started the season at Forthbank, with Scott Chaplain replacing the injured John Robertson in a change that saw Gary Harkins move back to central defence. The other change saw Everton youngster Stephen Connor replace Simon Donnelly.

Connor certainly saw plenty of the ball in the early stages, and he was more than willing to take on and beat Airdrie’s Paul Lovering. It was from a less predictable source that Thistle’s early opening goal arrived after 14 minutes however, with Harkins picking up a throw in on the edge of the box, and firing a tremendous left-foot shot high past Stephen Robertson in the Airdrie goal.

Thistle went on the control the first half, without ever really looking too threatening going forward. Airdrie were actually playing some nice football through their midfield, and didn’t bear much resemblance to the teams we traditionally think of when talking about them (with the dishonourable exception of Lovering). They had ex-Jags striker/playboy Allan Russell in attack, and he was let down by a poor touch when he really should have done better after being given a clear sight of goal.

David Rowson was impressive for Thistle again tonight, and he was the next Jags player to have an effort on goal. Connor had won a free kick on the right edge of the area, and although Murray’s initial delivery was cleared, it fell to Rowson on the volley, but his connection wasn’t great and it drifted wide.

With around ten minutes left before the interval the home fans were on their feet again, this time appealing for a penalty after Liam Buchanan appeared to be barged over inside the box. Referee Charlie Richmond was unimpressed with these appeals and waved play on.

Shortly before half-time Connor left Lovering trailing, but his low cross found no takers amongst the Thistle forwards. This was followed by the Airdrie left-back advancing into the Thistle half, and shooting wide with the Diamond’s first effort on goal.

So far so good then, but the Jags seemed to have switched off at half-time and were given a warning soon after that the visitors posed a threat. Johnny Tuffey, who up until this point could have spent his evening doing The Times crossword, was called upon to make a great close range save from Stephen McKeown.

Airdrie at this stage were becoming more and more of a force in the game, and Thistle were forced back. Mark Roberts nearly changed that, but he was just unable to reach a through ball ahead of Robertson, who then nearly handled outside the area.

Sure enough, Airdrie then equalised through Steven McKenna, mistakenly announced over the tannoy as Mark Smyth (the only surprising aspect about this is that it wasn’t actually Smyth who scored). The space McKenna was given to head home from a corner after 61 minutes must be alarming for the management team, with two goals now conceded this season from free headers.

McCall then almost immediately replaced Connor with Adam Strachan, a change that was to prove extremely profitable for the Jags boss. Connor joined Buchanan and Chaplain on the bench, having failed to make the same impact in the second half as he did in the first.

Shooting from distance has never been Adam’s strong point, and his shot from 20 yards soon after coming on trundled straight at Robertson. The game began to fizzle out as both teams seemed to accept that another half hour was unavoidable, with Airdrie if anything looking the more likely team to score the winner in what was turning into a poor second half.

Fortunately, Strachan decided against accepting this outcome. Airdrie had only just replaced Lovering with the lumbering James Sharp, and he appeared to be standing still as Strachan flew past him down the Thistle right (we can only be grateful that Airdrie made this change, as had Lovering still been on the pitch the more likely result would have involved him depositing Strachan back into the home dugout). The low cross that followed was collected by Roberts, and he fed Murray who blasted a rising shot past the keeper, before embarking on a celebratory run in front of the Jackie Husband stand.

There wasn’t time for any more action after this, and Thistle progress unseeded into a draw featuring most of the SPL teams. This was not the most convincing display, and Airdrie did fight back strongly in the second half, but there were still plenty of positives for Thistle, in particular the performances of Murray and Rowson.

Man of the match: David Rowson