One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Thistle made it 11 goals against with just one in reply in two games at Firhill by rolling over and giving Gretna the go ahead to score at will. To be fair, they did make a fight of it in the first half, but simply gave up after going 2-0 down with an embarrasingly inept second half display.

After watching his side look a bit more solid in their 2-1 win at Hamilton last week, manager Dick Campbell again opted for a 4-4-2 and stuck with the same starting eleven, the only change being on the bench with McConalogue replacing the injured Brown Ferguson. Gretna made three changes following their defeat at Hibs, Canning, Tosh and Graham starting in place of Birch, Innes and Deuchar.

After Gretna had went a previously unheard of four games without a win, this was surely a chance for Thistle to take the game to them right from the first whistle, attack with pace, close them down, and simply give them no time to settle? Unfortunately that wasn’t quite how it went, and in fact it was Gretna who made the stronger start.

David Graham called Tuffey into action inside the opening minutes with a snapshot on the turn, which the Jags keeper did well to collect low down at his post. Tuffey then had to block a powerful drive from Tosh, but was beaten a few minutes later when a quickly taken free-kick caught out the Jags defence and only the crossbar stopped McMenamin’s downward header giving the visitors the lead.

Thistle recovered from that near miss and Strachan glanced a header wide from a corner, then in the 16th minute the ball broke to Mark Roberts inside the box, and although he couldn’t get it out from under his feet quickly enough to get a clear shot on goal himself, he knocked the ball into the path of Young and his low angled drive was deflected inches wide of the far post.

Roberts tugged an effort just wide soon afterwards, and then McCulloch led a quick break but wasted the move by shooting weakly and waywardly instead of slipping the supporting Roberts through on goal. But the signs were promising with Thistle beginning to threaten more after a slow start, while Gretna were looking far short of their usual confident selves.

However, disaster struck in the 29th minute and Thistle found themselves behind when from a soft free-kick Gretna won a corner and from it, Allan Jenkins’ low shot was deflected past Tuffey by the boot of Colin McMenamin from close range. Jenkins wasn’t far away from adding a second with a dipping volley soon afterwards, and you could see the confidence beginning to flow through the Gretna ranks. They were first to every ball, and began to outmuscle Thistle all over the park.

There was some hope that the Jags could get back into it in the shape of Adam Strachan, he suddenly roared into action five minutes or so before half-time with a couple of great runs down the left wing, one of which resulted in Canning being booked for a crunching tackle - which Strachan nimbly avoided. And right on the half-time whistle he showed great pace to steal in and win possession inside the area, but his deft chip over the keeper was just too high and it sailed over the bar.

The faint glimmer of hope Strachan had provided was soon forgotten though, as he barely got a kick of the ball until midway through the second half, and by then Gretna were cruising. The signs were there inside the opening few seconds when a mistake from Boyd handed Jenkins a great opportunity to double the lead, but under pressure from Sives he failed to hit the target.

Thistle briefly rallied when McCulloch’s quick free kick found Roberts inside the box, but he was quickly closed down before he could test the keeper, then Darren Brady had a rare shot at goal but fired over under pressure. But with 55 minutes on the clock disaster struck again when Billy Gibson slid in to try and intercept a pass and only proceeded to knock it past Sives and into the path of Stevie Tosh, and he stabbed the ball past Tuffey to make it 2-0.

The former Aberdeen midfielder injured himself in the process and had to be subbed, but his absence made no difference to a now rampant Gretna side. Thistle had tried to respond, but when Young’s effort was blocked for a corner the only outcome from a stramash inside the six-yard box was a free kick for Gretna, and they promptly raced up the park and added a third. Skelton was given all the time in the world to collect a throw-in before picking out the unmarked Townsley at the far post and his downward header beat Tuffey at the post.

Gretna should have made it four just two minutes later when McMenanmin and Jenkins combined to cut through the Jags defence, but the latter failed to hit the target from a great position. But the game was all but over as a contest now, with the previously anonymous Jags midfield even more non-existent, and although Campbell finally made a change by bringing on Graham Gibson in place of the once again out-of-sorts Roberts, it made no difference whatsoever.

Jenkins finally got his goal in the 69th minute when the ball was slipped through to him on the left and although Tuffey raced out of his goal to try and deny him, the former Stranraer captain calmly stepped to the side and slid the ball home from a tight angle.

In the 78th minute Thistle’s one decent passing move of the game almost resulted in a goal, but after good play between Campbell, Donnelly and Young down the right gave the latter the chance to test the keeper, as with his first-half effort, his low shot flashed across the face of goal and narrowly past the far post.

Gretna added a fifth two minutes later when Strachan lost possession in midfield and the ball was quickly played forward to McMenamin. He was quickly closed down but was able to knock it wide to Skelton, who wasn’t closed down at all, allowing him plenty of time to pick his spot, which he duly did by curling a fine effort high past the keeper.

Number six soon followed, and this time it was Donnelly who gave the ball away cheaply before more slack defending allowed McMenamin to make progress inside the Jags box. He eased away from Boyd and then cut the ball back for Berkeley to lash home from close range despite being outnumbered by Sives and McCulloch. Thistle did have the ball in the back of the net before the 90 minutes were up, but couldn’t even muster a late consolation as Donnelly’s fine finish from Graham Gibson’s lay-off was ruled offside.

Thistle may have been unfortunate, losing two pretty soft goals despite matching Gretna in the opening 45 minutes, but the way they simply collapsed in the second half was shocking; what happened to the battling team spirit Campbell is always going on about?

Tactically he got it all wrong against St Johnstone, but while that wasn’t really the case today, the team out there was his choice, and he’ll admit the buck stops with him. Quite where this result leaves us is up for debate, but following on so quickly from the drubbing by St Johnstone - if this is a measure of our progress, we are going nowhere fast under Campbell.

Man of the match:
ADAM STRACHAN - Not surprisingly it’s hard to pick out any decent performers, but on the positive side, Strachan, on the few occassions he was involved, looked dangerous. If only he’d played a bigger part in the game, but then who did? The only other contenders (and I use the term loosely) were Young, McCulloch and perhaps Donnelly.

Thistle: Tuffey 5, Campbell 6, McCulloch 6, Sives 6, Boyd 5, Brady 5, B Gibson 4, Young 6, Donnelly 6, Roberts 5 (G Gibson 65), Strachan 6.
Unused subs; Arthur, Hodge, McConalogue, Keogh

Gretna: Main, MacFarlane, Granger, Townsley (Birch 73), Canning, Tosh (Barr 56), Jenkins, McGuffie, McMenamin, Graham (Berkeley 84), Skelton.
Unused subs; Fleming, Henderson