[tab:Match report]
Phil McGhee at Firhill
Another late, late goal cost ‘Well a point when ex Fir Park man Steven Lawless’ deflected shot gave Thistle the win.
On a miserable night for football, neither side deserved three points as both sets of fans must have wished the pitch had failed its late inspection.
A stark statistic of only two saves, one in each half from Connor Ripley, summed up a match best forgotten – and especially from a Motherwell side which didn’t deserve to win, but certainly didn’t deserve to lose either.
On a patchwork pitch, Mark McGhee fielded the same side that started at Dens Park. That meant new signing Morgaro Gomis had to settle for a place on the bench for the first hour.
It was almost another explosive start from ‘Well. Within two minutes Marvin Johnson had burst into the box and after his force cross was blocked his second effort towards goal from a few yards was booted clear by Gary Miller.
After a drive from former Fir Parker Steven Lawless zipped past his post, Connor Ripley produced his first save after six minutes beating and smothering a powerful Fredy Frans header.
Some great footwork from Scott McDonald found himself with space to squeeze a shot towards goal but his tame left foot effort was easily blocked by Sean Welsh in front the home goal.
Despite the uncertainty regarding the playing surface, both sides moved the ball quickly from end to end in pursuit of the opening goal.
However after the bright opening play became bogged down in the middle of the park.
A couple of Motherwell breaks from midfield were cynically halted by Thistle as the home side picked up four first half bookings.
Six minutes from the break Johnson wandered in from the left and as he dragged the ball across a busy box, fell to the ground under pressure from a Danny Seaborne challenging. Referee Barry cook momentarily thought about it before waving play on.
Johnson was involved again minutes later when his low cross found Stephen Pearson but his shot from eight yards only struck McDonald who couldn’t turn the ball towards goal.
‘Well maintained that pressure after there start and a swift move within the opening minutes found Johnson and Louis Moult with shooting chances at the edge of the box before Pearson’s curled effort for the bottom corner was deflected wide by Welsh.
Stevie Hammell’s tempting cross was met by Chris Cadden but aiming to add to his impressive strike on Saturday he could only volley the ball over from15 yards.
Just after the hour mark ‘Well made a double substitution. Kieran Kennedy replaced the injured Ben Hall, and Moult made way for Gomis allowing Johnson to move up front beside McDonald.
In a rare threat on either goal Johnson created space on the left to find Cadden in front of goal but from 20 yards the teenager hooked his shot wide of target.
Five minutes from time Ripley produced a fine diving stop to hold Callum booth’s angled drive.
Lionel Ainsworth, on for Cadden had one final chance to force Tomas Cerny into his first save but fired his free kick into the defensive wall.
However, just when it looked like stalemate Lawless hit the winner with a left foot strike which was heading straight for Ripley, until a touch from Josh Law steered the ball just be inside the post for the winner.
Stephen McManus almost redeemed the situation in added on time when, from Hammell’s in-swinging corner, his head flick was heading into the net until Booth nodded it off the line.
[tab:As it happened]
Ally Reilly at Tynecastle
FT: Partick Thistle 1 – 0 Motherwell
92′ | 1-0
McManus’ header cleared off the line! So close to an equaliser!
90′ | 1-0
Goal – Lawless picks up a loose ball and blasts Thistle in front.
89′ | 0-0
Final Thistle change, Fraser on for Doolan.
86′ | 0-0
Booth has a strike on goal but Ripley gets down low to make the save.
85′ | 0-0
Motherwell sub, Cadden makes way for Ainsworth.
83′ | 0-0
Osman goes in with his studs up, Lasley goes down injured and so does the offender,possibly got himself out a second booking there
75′ | 0-0
Been a game of few chances. Pogba heads goalwards but it doesn’t trouble Ripley. Still 0-0.
72′ | 0-0
Thistle sub, Amoo on for Elliot.
69′ | 0-0
Booth advances and gets on the end of Pogba’s knockdown but McManus gets a good foot on it and puts it out.
64′ | 0-0
Thistle sub, Welsh off for Pogba.
61′ | 0-0
Double Motherwell sub, Hall and Moult off for Kennedy and Gomis.
49′ | 0-0
Johnson swings it in to Cadden but its an awkward height for him to take and he volleys over the bar.
46′ | 0-0
Ball falls to Pearson about 10 yards out but Frans gets his body in the way and it goes out for a corner. Nice build up play.
Lasley and Moult get the second 45 underway…
HT: Partick Thistle 0 – 0 Motherwell
40′ | 0-0
Good penalty claim there as Johnson goes down under a challenge but ref waves away. Pearson then booked for thwarting attack.
39′ | 0-0
Thistle fans waving their yellow cards as they believe Johnson should have been carded. No chance though.
37′ | 0-0
Osman booked for a late trip on McDonald as he broke away.
34′ | 0-0
Another Thistle booking, this time it’s for Bannigan after a tackle on Lasley.
29′ | 0-0
Seabourne booked for a poor challenge on Moult…
23′ | 0-0
Miller takes a booking after ref calls play back for a foul.
9′ | 0-0
McDonald shows great skill and beats 4 men but his goalbound shot is blocked and the danger snuffed out.
6′ | 0-0
Good chance for Seabourne as he gets on the end of a corner but he heads towards Ripley who gratefully gathers.
2′ | 0-0
Great wing play from Johnson, nutmegging Miller then getting in a low cross but Frans mops up at the front post.
Game is underway. Come on Motherwell!!
[tab:Reaction]
Motherwell manager Mark McGhee:
“We shot ourselves in the foot because the goal was avoidable, we’ve switched off.
“The boy got in behind, it gets a big deflection and we’ve lost a game we didn’t need to lose.
We’ve not thought anything else other than we’re in a dogfight. Even if we’d won tonight I would be saying the same thing. We’ve shown that we matched Thistle all the way, they’ve got the break and taken advantage.
“There will be games when we’re the ones who do that. We’ve just got to make sure that there’s more of them than what happened tonight.
“There’s not a trend that’s costing us to lose a [late] goal. On Saturday it was a penalty kick that was never a penalty kick in a million years. Tonight it was a goal we could have avoided by somebody being more alert.”
Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald:
“A bit of luck, we get a deflection, that probably summed up the game.
“It wasn’t much of a match. We knew that was going to be the case because of the conditions, and we probably played to the conditions too much.
“When it opened up we could have passed it better. We’re just delighted to get the three points, which is all that matters on a night like this.
“Both teams cancelled each other out for long periods, there wasn’t much goalmouth action. Motherwell slightly shaded it in the first half, but the second half we were a little bit better.
“The ref played a bit too much time, as they do. We’ll take a bit of luck, and the clean sheet because Motherwell are hard to play against with a good front two up top.”
[tab:Man-of-the-match]
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