One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

When these two sides last met at Firhill, few leaving that game would have expected that Thistle would be a table topping team when they visited McDiarmid Park for the return, but that was indeed the background for the game of the day in the First Division.

However, Thistle ultimately disappointed again against the team from Perth, but the gap between the sides has narrowed dramatically and St Johnstone no longer look a team that we should greatly fear running away with this league.

Thistle stuck with the same starting eleven that defeated Dundee last week, but St Johnstone showed two enforced changes, the suspended Lawson and Scotland replaced by Willie McLaren and Peter MacDonald, the latter who has a nasty knack of scoring against Thistle, with exactly half of his 16 goals in the last three years coming against the Jags.

Things did not start promisingly as straight from the kick off St Johnstone engineered an opportunity which Milne narrowly curled past the post. The home side had started brightly and after 5 minutes, the large travelling support got a great view of a fantastic save by Kenny Arthur from Sheerin’s drive, albeit after an offside decision had been given against the St Johnstone player.

It was a sign of things to come though and they made the most of their good start after 15 minutes when Sheerin hit a well placed volley from the edge of the box which ended in the back of the net via the inside of the post. Arthur had no chance but the defending had been ponderous and indecisive, not for the last time in the First Half.

Only a minute later St Johnstone were again in a good position in the Jags box but on this occasion Jimmy Gibson made a great challenge – one he simply had to get exactly right. It wasn’t completely one-way traffic and Mark Roberts finally tested the home defence soon afterwards when he fired in an angled effort that Halliwell had to push away, before his defence knocked the ball to safety.

The game began to ebb and flow well and it looked like it could be set up for a most entertaining match however the referee began to become more and more noticeable by giving a succession of soft fouls all in favour of the home side, disrupting the tempo of the game and enraging the 1000 or so fans packed into the away end.

After 27 minutes, Mensing laid off to Sheerin who hit a good strike which hit the post, although the referee seemed to be in a minority who thought that Arthur had got a touch and awarded a corner. Soon after the Saints again advanced into the Thistle box but on this occasion it fell to Mensing to shoot, and his effort was saved easily by Arthur. McDonald then had a shot which took a deflection and went narrowly past the post and then the last action of the half was MacDonald shooting fiercely into the net but he was in an offside position.

A chorus of derision followed the referee down the tunnel at half time. He had a shocker (not at all helped by MacDonald’s constant diving) but Thistle were losing through poor defending and an inflexible misfiring tactic.

t took just two minutes of Second Half play until the referee next blew his whistle – the decision being a free kick to St Johnstone on the edge of the Thistle box, surprise, surprise.

But the Jags were certainly looking more threatening in the Second Half although the distribution from the back was invariably poor, particularly from Keogh. They often kept possession with a string of passes in midfield only for it to be popped back to Keogh or McCulloch or Sives to hoist a long ball forward where it would inevitably be lost. Note for DC : Sives will never be a playmaker.

The closest the Jags came to scoring was probably after 55 minutes, when Thistle finally got a free kick in an advanced area. Boab McCulloch swung it into the box and Roberts won the header a the hear post but Halliwell saved smartly, turning it round the post. Young had a good chance from the resulting corner but when it broke kindly for the defender, he then seemed disinterested in chasing the rebound.

The game had opened up and, without interference from the ref, for a few minutes it was end to end stuff, MacDonald going close for Saints, and Strachan becoming more influential for Thistle.

Thistle created another good chance after interplay between Roberts and Young set up the tireless Jimmy Gibson who shot over. Sives also had a chance in this spell. By this stage, St Johnstone were playing on the counter attack as Thistle had dominant possession and territory.

The fresh legs of Graham Gibson replaced Strachan after 67 minutes and shortly after Sheridan replaced McLaren for St Johnstone. Gibson’s pace immediately caused St Johnstone some problems and showed that the ball over the top tactic does have merit with the correct personnel.

Then the killer blow arrived after 73 minutes as MacDonald was put through and finished with almost a replica of his offside effort before half time. Campbell threw the bunnet to the ground in anger but to be fair his tactics seemed as much to blame as the defence.

Thistle again had quite a bit of possession in the closing stages but never really got the break of ball in the box, and with St Johnstone comfortable in putting men behind the ball Thistle didn’t have the guile to break them down and resorted to shots from outside the box which were often blocked.

Keogh was moved up front for the final minutes and Kenny Arthur found him with a clearance and Keogh headed it on to Young whose overhead kick went just over. Then Keogh had a chance of his own when he got to a cross to loop a shot towards goal, but Halliwell was there to make a fairly easy save.

Thistle continued to push and Jimmy Gibson played a great cross field ball to the right and from the cross it looked like Graham Gibson would score but the defender just got to it in time to deny him the chance. At the other end, Saints sub Jackson really should have made it three in injury time but shot wide from a good position.

Leaving the ground, Saints fans were heard to say that Thistle are in a false position and are a poor team. But despite the defeat, today’s performance did show however that Thistle can compete with St Johnstone.

Man of the match:
JIMMY GIBSON - Most of the team failed to shine against a well-organised St Johnstone side, and it was lacklustre at times. Keogh looked good when defending but his distribution was very poor, and Strachan, Young and Donnelly all had their good moments but poor ones also. Arthur made some good saves early on, but was eventually beaten twice. So, for tireless running, not giving the ball away as much as his team-mates, a great saving tackle and one superb crossfield ball, Jimmy Gibson gets the nod as my Man of the Match.

Thistle: Arthur 7, Sives 6, McCulloch 6 (Campbell 86), Keogh 6, Boyd 6, Brady 6, J Gibson 7, Donnelly 6 (McConalogue 83), Young 6, Roberts 6, Strachan 6 (G Gibson 67).
Unused subs; Tuffey, B Gibson

St Johnstone: Halliwell, Lawrie, Stanic, Mensing, McManus, Anderson, Hardie, Sheerin, Milne (Coyle 90), MacDonald (Jackson 76), McLaren (Sheridan 69).
Unused subs; Cuthbert, Dyer.