One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

Thistle moved to the top of the First Division after an excellent 3 – 1 home win against a 10-man Dundee today. A goal from Craig Sives and a Mark Roberts double were enough to seal the victory in a game that will be remembered for the antics of red-carded Dundee player/manager Alex Rae.

The Dundee fans that had travelled down to Glasgow for toda’s match, looking for revenge for the two defeats already inflicted on their new look side by Thistle this season, hailed the gaunt features of their manager, Alex Rae, as he led his team out. A chorus of the classic French ditty “Allo, Allo” rose into the grey skies over Firhill. In response, the Thistle crowd began their own chant to inspire Mr Rae… “Baldy, baldy…”

Dick Campbell made only one change to the side that beat Airdrie the previous week, dropping Stevie Campbell to the bench for the fit again McCulloch. Dundee’s only change from the team that drew with Hamilton in their last game was a last minute one, goalkeeper Callum Reidford replacing replace Ludovic Roy after he’d been injured in the warm-up.

Both sides started brightly with Dundee’s Andy McLaren showing his intelligence in the first minute when he slipped into the Thistle box to meet a cross from the left but his header flew wide. McLaren didn’t have to wait long for another chance though as a pass found him in space just outside the Thistle box. He turned neatly and shot fiercely at goal but Kenny Arthur got across his goal quickly and his diving save cleared the ball into the corner and away to safety.

The ball was being moved swiftly now by both teams and the game was becoming stretched. The midfield being evenly matched and any attacks that broke down were swiftly being turned into counter-attacks.

On ten minutes, after another fine save by Kenny Arthur from a Scott Robertson effort, the Jags began to put pressure on the Dundee goal. Simon Donnelly began to influence the rhythm of the game more and more and his interplay with Roberts and Young was becoming a joy to watch. The three players moved and passed around the box only for a final pass by Roberts to be cleared for a corner to Thistle. Up came the Jags defenders but Boyd could only head over the bar.

Darren Brady was beginning to snap at the heels of the Dundee midfield and he made three excellent challenges one after the other to win back possession for Thistle. The ball was fed out wide left and Adam Strachan saw the ball for virtually the first time. Head down, he stormed past the Dundee full back and whipped a fabulous ball into the back post but it was met by a clearing header from Dundee, out for another Thistle corner that resulted in last ditch defending by Dundee to clear their lines.

Thistle seemed to be flowing with confidence now and it wasn’t long before their crisp one touch football resulted in a stunning goal. McCulloch brought the ball out of defence and played a delightful one-two with Jimmy Gibson that split the Dundee midfield. He collected the return and played a perfectly weighted pass into the feet of Roberts. He spun round, leaving his marker for dead, and thumped the ball hard and low into the bottom left of Reidford’s goal.

But ten minutes later Dundee pulled themselves back into the game with a superb goal from Rae. The Dark Blues managed to feed the ball down the Thistle left and the cut-back travelled through a crowd of Thistle players, out to the edge of the box where Alex Rae thundered towards the goal and hit a stunning shot that gave Arthur no chance.

The game then took a dramatic turn. As Rae wheeled away to celebrate his goal, he ran past the Thistle fans, who it’s fair to say had been giving him a hard time, and made it clear what he thought of them. This would have been acceptable but he then chose to use a rather rude gesture in closing his celebrations. The linesman drew the referee’s attention to Rae’s misdemeanour and he was swiftly shown his second yellow of the game, and off he went. The Dundee manager had gone from hero to villain in a matter of seconds.

Bizarrely, after Rae had disappeared down the tunnel, he re-appeared in the dugout. Officials inside the Thistle stand could be seen asking Rae to remove himself but he refused. Eventually, the situation was brought to the referee’s attention but, again, Rae refused to leave the dugout area. Instead he leapt over the barrier and stood arguing with the referee until finally agreeing to leave. This nonsense will probably mean a longer ban for Rae than for just the red card if the referee includes the incident in his report.

Thistle looked to make their man advantage count and in thirty seven minutes, Donnelly found Brady on the right hand side of the box. His deep cross cleared the Dundee defenders and found Young but he could only direct his header onto the roof of the net.

Thistle kept pushing and playing the ball around beautifully. Darren Young was looking a class act and he again made some wonderful runs off Donnelly and Roberts. After some creative passing in the Dundee box, Thistle were awarded yet another corner. Donnelly played a perfectly flighted ball just outside the six yard area and big Craig Sives rose unmarked to bullet the ball into the top left of the net ensuring a Jags lead at the break.

At the beginning of the 2nd half, Scott Boyd was replaced by Billy Gibson and Dick Campbell changed to three at the back. Thistle came sprinting out of the blocks and Darren Young almost wriggled clear inside twenty seconds of the re-start. He was brought down just outside the box but McCulloch’s kick was well wide.

Dundee began to fight for every ball and the challenges became a little tasty. Brady and Jimmy Gibson were giving as good as they got but Brady was becoming guilty of some loose passes. On sixty minutes, Dundee almost made Thistle pay for this slack possession when Andy McLaren ran onto a ball over the top beating Keogh for pace. With only Kenny Arthur to beat, he chose to lob the keeper, and fortunately for Thistle, Arthur was up to the task and dived to his right-hand post to make another fine save.

Both teams were trading blows now and, credit to Dundee, with only ten men they still continually pushed for an equalising goal. Dick Campbell was growing increasingly agitated on the touchline and began to prowl his technical area. The Thistle defence looked rattled by the urgency shown by the Dundee team but they continued to hold strong. It was clear, however, that Thistle needed another goal to kill off this resistance.

On seventy four minutes, the goal came. Darren Brady had fired a low shot from the edge of the Dundee box that deflected out for a Thistle corner. The ball was floated to the back post towards Billy Gibson but he was bundled to the ground and the referee pointed to the spot. After a brief tug of war for the ball between Donnelly and Roberts, Roberts strode up and smacked the ball low into the keeper’s bottom left hand corner.

With Thistle now firmly in control, Campbell took off Sives to a standing ovation and, minutes later, replaced Darren Young with Graham Gibson. Thistle could now keep the ball and press the Dundee box at will. They had a handful of half chances towards the end but the game had already been won. It’s been a long time at Firhill since the fans could watch the last five minutes of a game without gnawing their fingernails.

Thistle were superb today and played some fantastic football. The team are beginning to really believe in themselves and in the talent that they most certainly have. We will never know what the outcome would have been today if Dundee had managed to keep all eleven men on the pitch but it’s fair to say that, if Thistle continue to play football with as much imagination and confidence as they did in large patches of this game, then they can go further than even the most optimistic fan would have thought a few weeks ago.

Man of the match:
SIMON DONNELLY - Roberts was the official sponsors MotM and his display, along with many others, was top quality. Sives was outstanding at the back and has a great future in the game. Young is fast becoming one of our most important players and only needs to add goals to take it to another level. But, for me, Donnelly was a class apart today. His touch, vision and movement were of the highest order and he has begun to add hard graft to his game that was maybe missing at the beginning of the season. Remember… Campbell signed this man!

Thistle: Arthur 7, Sives 7 (Campbell 74), McCulloch 6, Keogh 7, Boyd 5 (B Gibson 46), Brady 7, J Gibson 6, Donnelly 8, Young 8 (G Gibson 80), Roberts 8, Strachan 7.
Unused subs; Tuffey, McConalogue

Dundee: Reidford, Griffin, Dixon, Strong, Mann, Rae, Robertson, K McDonald, McLaren, McGinty (Harris 51), Swankie (Deasley 77).
Unused subs; Murray, C McDonald, Campbell