One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

Thistle made heavy weather of beating Berwick Rangers at Firhill in tonight’s Challenge Cup tie. Despite a dominant first half performance they let a 1-0 lead slip when Swanson equalised with 12 minutes to go, but two goals in the last 8 minutes secured their progress into the next round.

McCall surprisingly made just two changes to the side that lost to Hamilton at the weekend, Robertson and Chaplain dropped out to be replaced by Archibald and Strachan with the latter lining up on the right wing allowing Di Giacomo to partner Buchanan in attack. Berwick showed five changes from the side that lost at Peterhead, Scott Gemmill was handed a start following his two goals at the weekend, while Chris Flockhart deputised in goal after impressing in the opening round of the Challenge Cup.

Strachan looked keen to impress early on and he had the first chance of the game after only five minutes when ran onto Buchanan’s cross at the back post, but his first time shot was blocked by the legs of the keeper. Rowson was next to threaten after Strachan had won a corner, however his header was off target.

Despite a fairly promising start, there wasn’t a great deal between the sides but Thistle started to step up a gear midway through the first half and after Strachan tested the keeper for a second time, Rowson rolled a free kick into the path of Harkins and he stepped up to slam a ferocious shot past the keeper to put the Jags in front.

Thistle looked to build on the opener and went on to create a number of good goalscoring opportunities. First up McStay created a chance for himself with some good skill, only to scoop his shot over the bar. Storey was next to have a go when he ran onto a lay-off but his powerful shot was straight at the keeper.

Flockhart was a busy man at this stage and he was called into action again a few minutes later to deny Di Giacomo with a fine save from a corner, and he had to react quickly to stop one of his defenders heading the rebound into his own net.

McStay was getting the time to create from the middle of the park and he showed his terrific vision and passing ability to pick out the run of Di Giacomo, but with time and space to pick his shot, the on-loan Kilmarnock striker wastefully fired wide. Another terrific pass from McStay freed Twaddle down the left, but the strikers were inches away from connecting with his cross, and although Strachan was on hand to collect on the right, his driven ball into the area was cleared.

The Berwick defence had a brief respite five minutes before half-time when McMullen showed good skill to beat Storey before winning a free kick near the by-line as Harkins dived in to try and halt his progress. They couldn’t make anything of the chance though with Smith’s header failing to hit the target.

The Jags were soon back on the attack and Buchanan’s angled drive went just the wrong side of the far post and Di Giacomo curled an effort over the bar. Then right on half-time McStay beat three players in midfield before chipping it through for Di Giacomo, but he was closed down before he could shoot for goal.

The same player had a couple of early chances in the second half, most notably when McStay fed Strachan out wide and he hit a good early cross into the danger area, but Di Giacomo just failed to connect and the keeper dived to touch the ball away to safety.

At the other end Gemmill pounced on a mistake by Archibald inside the box, but the Jags defender made up for his lapse by blocking the striker’s shot. With almost an hour gone Tuffey was called upon to make his first save of the game when Gary Wood strode forward from midfield, but although his shot was well hit, Tuffey got down well to save.

The game was briefly interrupted when a wayward sprinkler came to life in the far corner, rather apt as the second half was turning into a bit of a damp squid. Rowson and Murray both had shots off target and at the other end McMullen drove a shot narrowly wide but the passing was starting to go astray and Thistle’s first half dominance was slipping away.

McCall tried to change it by bringing on his subs, the lively looking Strachan was surprisingly the first to go, with Buchanan soon following him, and McCall’s final roll of the dice to try and get his midfield back in charge was to replace the by now subdued McStay with Jimmy Gibson.

The changes made little difference to the game, and in the end it took the wake up call of an equalising goal to get them back on top. Poor passing from Thistle gifted the visitors possession in midfield and when the ball was knocked through to Swanson he showed good composure when his first shot was well saved by Tuffey to knock the rebound home and level the scores.

The Thistle response was almost immediate, Keegan fed Di Giacomo on the edge of the box and the keeper had to get down smartly to turn his shot round the post. That only delayed Di Giacomo’s first goal in Thistle colours for a few minutes, as when Keegan slid the ball into his feet a second time, he made no mistake shooting low past the keeper to make it 2-1.

The striker could have doubled his tally just a few minutes later when Keegan cushioned a header into his path, but he slammed the ball into the side netting. The roles were reversed a few minutes later when Di Giacomo turned provider, but Keegan had moved just too far forward and instead of having an easy tap in, he failed to control the ball and the chance was gone.

However, with almost the last kick of the ball Keegan notched his first goal for the Jags when he showed a fine touch to bring the ball down in the area, and with the ref ignoring shouts for handball, he sidestepped a defender and the keeper before slamming the ball home.

It was a well-deserved victory for Thistle as they had created the bulk of the chances in the game, but it was a fairly average performance on the whole with their failure to take their first half chances almost costing them thanks to a lacklustre second half display. However, the players did do enough to get back to winning ways, and can now head into the international break satisfied with what has been a promising start to the season.

Man of the match: Adam Strachan