One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

Thistle’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup for the second time in five years were ended with a disappointing defeat at Dunfermline today. The Jags were behind as early as the fourth minute, and despite plenty of effort Thistle never really looked like turning it around, and Stephen Simmons double strike was enough to see the SPL side progress.

Injury doubts Young and Smith were both deemed fit to play by manager Dick Campbell, so there were just a couple of changes to the Thistle side that beat Livingston last weekend. Billy Gibson and Keogh replacing Donnelly and the cup-tied Alan Archibald, while Adam Strachan was named amongst the subs, his first appearance in the squad since being transfer-listed at the start of the year.

Dunfermline also made a couple of changes, Scott Morrison replaced the cup-tied Stephen Glass and Stevie Crawford dropped to the bench with Owen Morrison asked to provide some extra width with Liverpool loan star Adam Hammill on the opposite wing.

It was the wide players who were to prove the major difference between the two sides, and with less than four minutes on the clock, and in Dunfermline’s first attack of the game, Morrison raced down the left before cutting inside Smith and delivering a cross where it was met by the head of Simmons who nodded the home side into an early lead.

It took Thistle ten minutes to recover from that early blow, and when they eventually did manage to threaten the Dunfermline goal, keeper De Vries wasn’t troubled, firstly Billy Gibson’s 30-yard free kick deflected off the wall and wide, and then Brady got his shot all wrong, sending a dipping volley well wide of target.

The home keeper was called into action in the 20th minute when he had to race to the edge of his area to clear from Jimmy Gibson who’d made a fine run through the middle, but De Vries slid in to clear the danger before the Jags skipper could go for goal. At the other end the Jags defence scrambled to clear with O’Brien ready to pounce inside the danger area and then Arthur had to react quickly to punch clear from Hammill, flattening the young winger in the process.

Just after the half hour mark the two Dunfermline wingers combined when Morrison’s cross-field pass picked out Hammill and he whipped in a dangerous cross from the right wing that flashed right across the face of the Thistle goal before being deflected behind for a corner. Five minutes later Scott Boyd failed to get enough on a header back to his keeper giving O’Brien the chance to try and steal in, but Kenny Arthur did superbly to dive in and punch the ball clear from the feet of the Pars striker, leaving him in a heap on the floor and looking in vain for a penalty.

The home side had looked the better side throughout the first half and a couple of minutes before half-time Simmons should have made it 2-0 with a carbon-copy of his opening goal, but this time he headed Morrison’s cross narrowly wide. Right on the half-time whistle Billy Gibson strode forward and hit a ferocious drive but it cannoned off a defender and the first half finished with Thistle failing to get a single shot on target.

Right at the start of the second half a short-free kick was played to Jimmy Gibson and he strode forward unchallenged before unleashing a low drive that had De Vries scrambling as it sailed narrowly past his right post. Thistle had to make a change a few minutes later when an unfit looking Barry Smith limped off with a hamstring injury to be replaced by Adam Strachan. He slotted into left midfield with the fairly anonymous Derek Young (who also looked as if he wasn’t fully fit) switching to the right and Billy Gibson moving to right-back.

The added width provided by Strachan certainly made a difference for the Jags in the second half, but it was the Pars who should have increased their lead when Morrison turned inside away from Billy Gibson before curling a shot past Arthur, only to see it come crashing back off the post and the ball then cleared to safety before O’Brien could react.

Thistle responded to this let-off by having their best spell of the game and they began to put the home defence under some real pressure. Mark Roberts had a half chance after collecting the ball on the edge of the area, but his turn and shot mirrored his quiet performance today and was well off target. Allan Russell then saw his shot on the turn deflected behind, but although they forced a series of corners, no one could get a telling touch.

In the 72nd minute Darren Brady ran onto a headed clearance just outside the penalty area following a Jimmy Gibson free kick, but his deflected shot was comfortably saved by the keeper, and that was Thistle’s only shot on target in the entire game.

Campbell went for broke going with three up front as the game headed into the final quarter, but the home side looked to have weathered the Thistle pressure without too much trouble, and even with the troublesome Morrison taking a well earned rest for the remaining 15 minutes, it was still the home side who looked the most likely to add to the scoring.

O’Brien and Hammill combined to create an opening but a great tackle from Billy Gibson denied the latter right in front of goal. Hammill again threatened a few minutes later, this time he raced forward down the left but after cutting inside his low drive flashed wide. O’Brien had better luck on the opposite wing a few minutes later and he set up the clinching goal when he beat Robertson at the second attempt to cross for Simmons to head in off the underside of the bar. Both players were foolishly booked for their ‘celebrations’ in front of the 2300-strong Thistle support.

There was still time left for Mark Roberts to almost grab a late consolation, but his effort curled just the wrong side of the far post, and Thistle were left with nothing to show from what had been a hard-working, but ultimately bitterly disappointing performance.

Man of the match:
JIMMY GIBSON - Dunfermline’s Owen Morrison was the star man overall, but midfield battler Jimmy Gibson just edges out Keogh and Boyd as the Jags best player. He was snapping at the heels of Dunfermline players for the whole game, did his best to drive the team forward, and came as close to scoring as anyone in red and yellow.

Thistle: Arthur 6, Smith 3 (Strachan 49, 6), Robertson 6, Brady 6, Boyd 7, Keogh 7, J Gibson 7, B Gibson 6, Russell 6, Roberts 5, Young 4 (McConalogue 82).
Unused subs; Tuffey, McChrystal, Ferguson.

Dunfermline: De Vries, Ross (Bamba 89), Wilson, McGuire, S Morrison, O’Brien (Crawford 90), Mason, Simmons, O Morrison (McCunnie 72), Hamilton, Hammill.
Unused subs; McKenzie, McIntyre.