One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

Thistle continued their good start to the season in an entertaining game at Firhill today. After Paul Lovering had saw red for a two-footed tackle early on, Thistle pressed home their numerical advantage and were 4-0 up with some clinical finishing. But Airdrie kept chasing the game and put a fairer reflection on the scoreline by pulling two goals back.

Both managers stuck with the same teams that won their midweek cup ties, although Robertson and McConalogue were preferred to Kane and McGoldrick on the bench for Thistle, while former Jag Marc Smyth lined up at right-back for the visitors.

Mark Roberts was keen to do well against his old club and he had the first sight at goal after good set up play by Donnelly, only for a strong challenge by Lovering to deny him the chance to test the keeper. The closing down of the Airdrie full-back was typical of their early play, and it was clear the visitors were well fired up for this one and keen to get some points on the board following their opening day defeat.

They were also playing some decent football in the opening stages and good play between the front two of Twigg and Prunty allowed them to carve through the heart of the Jags defence with Arthur having to get down smartly to block Prunty’s low shot. Seconds later it was Twigg who came close, but from a tight angle he could only hit the side netting.

There’s always a bit of an edge to these games and after a promising start Airdrie were the architects of their own downfall when firstly Kevin Christie’s shockingly late lunge on Graham Gibson turned up the heat (and resulted in a booking), and just a few minutes later, things boiled over when Paul Lovering foolishly dived in two-footed on Sives who was posing no real threat out on the touchline inside his own half.

The challenge left the referee with little option to show him a red card, and just three minutes later Thistle made their numerical advantage count. Roberts had already had a decent effort deflected wide, but with 21 minutes on the clock he made no mistake by heading home McCulloch’s corner at the near post. The former Airdrie player took great delight in scoring in front of the opposing fans, and can count himself fortunate not to have picked up a booking.

Thistle were well and truly on top now and Graham Gibson fired over the bar from a promising position after being picked out by Roberts’ fine pass, then Roberts was given the perfect chance to extend the lead from the penalty spot following a handball, but his rather tame effort was well saved by the keeper.

Heartened by that miss, Airdrie tried to hit back when McDougall crossed from the right, but a fine defensive header from Sives denied Twigg. The Airdrie striker should have done better from the resultant corner, but when the ball fell to him after a scramble in the box he could only stab the ball into the arms of Kenny Arthur.

Thistle were far more clinical in front of goal than Airdrie, and with 30 minutes gone they made it 2-0 when Graham Gibson raced down the left with Roberts in support, he chose to ignore the Jags goalscorer and made the right decision as his low cross was expertly guided home at the far post by Simon Donnelly.

Five minutes later the former Brechin forward had another chance to get on the scoresheet himself when he met McCulloch’s fine delivery from a free-kick, but Robertson dived high to his right to deny him.

The visitors twice came close to pulling a goal back before half-time; first of all Arthur had to make an equally good save to deny Twigg after Boyd had been caught in possession, and the Jags keeper was called into action again to deny Holmes after he’d been cleverly set up by Prunty, this time blocking his effort for a corner.

The pulsating pace didn’t let up in the second half, and after Prunty and Donnelly had both had a shot apiece, a quick break from Thistle down the right, with Graham Gibson again providing the cross from wide, resulted in goal number three when Donnelly cleverly flicked the ball onto Jimmy Gibson leaving the midfielder with the simple task of firing past the despairing dive of the keeper from close range.

Airdrie tried to respond through midfielder Steven McDougall, but Arthur was able to make a comfortable save, and five minutes later and with less than an hour gone, Thistle pretty much wrapped up the points with goal number four. Darren Brady was the scorer this time, another fine delivery from a free kick by McCulloch was met by Brady and his header looped over the keeper into the top corner for his second of the season.

The four goal lead didn’t last for long though, as just a minute later Bryan Prunty went down in the box under pressure from Ferguson and Boyd and the ref pointed to the spot for the second time in the game. Stephen McKeown stepped up and showed Roberts how it should be done by blasting his penalty into the top corner.

At this stage; a man down and three goals down, many teams would have given the game up as a lost cause even after pulling one back, but Airdrie hadn’t played badly up to this point and to their credit kept plugging away. The introduction of the lively McPhee in place of Twigg made a big difference, and they continued to push forward, putting the Jags defence under pressure, but ultimately without managing to breakthrough.

The pace of the game understandably started to drop in the last 15 minutes or so and although Scott McCulloch had a few chances; he hit the post direct from a corner, and tested the keeper with a 35-yard free-kick, Thistle were happy to just coast towards the finish line.

Airdrie weren’t keen to allow that to happen though and created a few chances of their own in the closing stages. With five minutes left Willie McLaren’s low drive flashed just wide of Arthur’s far post, then in the 88th minute a wasteful header by Jags sub Stephen McConalogue allowed Airdrie to break forward in numbers and although Robertson and Arthur combined to deny Taylor at first, the veteran midfielder was able to tap home at the second attempt.

Deep into injury time a well-worked free kick forced Arthur to get down smartly to deny Willie McLaren and Thistle held on to record a 4-2 win. While Airdrie played quite well and were clearly hindered by the early red card, it wasn’t a great Thistle performance, but clinical finishing was the difference between the two sides.

A decent enough performance but far from their best and they still won 4-2, that says it all really and while it’s still very early, so far the difference between this season and last is like night and day. The Jags will now look to take care of Albion Rovers in midweek before shaping up for their sternest test so far, the trip to face leaders Livingston at Almondvale.

Man of the match:
GRAHAM GIBSON - Jimmy Gibson was the sponsors pick and Mark Roberts also put in another fine performance, but while Graham Gibson didn’t get on the scoresheet today, he was involved in setting up two of the goals, and more than made up for his failings by the amount of effort he put into the game today, so he edges them both out and gets the ptfc.net vote!

Thistle: Arthur 7, Sives 7, McCulloch 7 (Hodge 78), Brady 7, Boyd 6, Ferguson 7 (Robertson 64), J Gibson 7, Donnelly 7, G Gibson 8, Roberts 8 (McConalogue 78), B Gibson 6.
Unused subs; Tuffey, Strachan.

Airdrie U: Robertson, McKenna, Lovering, Smyth, Christie (McGowan 78), Homles, McDougall, McKeown (Taylor 85), Prunty, Twigg (McPhee 54), McLaren.
Unused subs; Hollis, Watson.