Partick Thistle 2 Dunfermline 0

Saturday, 19th Sep 2009

Cairney and Donnelly score to give Thistle all three points.

Despite the reputation gained during its now century-spanning history, there were precious few thrills on offer in the opening spell of this encounter at Firhill.

An early effort from Simon Donnelly curled narrowly wide but was only followed by a string of unimpressive efforts from hosts and visitors alike. Donnelly and Hodge were to have efforts off target while Paul Cairney`s
on-target shot did little to scare the visitors.

At the opposite end, the most that the Pars could manage in the early part of the game were a lacklustre shot from Gibson which was deflected wide for a then-wasted corner and a long range drive from Woods which sailed harmlessly over Tuffey`s crossbar.

With a little over five minutes remaining of the first half, the game sparked into life with a disastrous moment for the Pars when Austin McCann was short with his pass back to Fleming.  With Partick`s anniversary strip bearing a passing resemblance to Dundee colours and Thistle youngster Paul CAIRNEY heading straight at him, the Pars goalkeeper must have been having a horrendous flashback.

This time however he was beaten fair and square as Cairney collected the ball and dribbled round Fleming to prod home from a tight angle. Such was McIntyre`s disgust, McCann did not even manage to last out the rest of the half, instantly being replaced by Muirhead.

This decision might almost have paid off when a Muirhead cross found Kirk a couple of minutes after the restart but the striker`s elaborate flick bounced back off the underside of the bar. Partick got out of jail again two minutes later when a close-range shot from Bayne was somehow scrambled wide of the goal.

If the Pars had learned anything from the goal it didn`t show five minutes into the second half when Woods passed the ball along the edge of his own box to the feet of Cairney, but the goal scorer`s miskicked attempt to find a team mate was the only thing that prevented Woods suffering the same embarrassment as McCann.

Although Thistle still had the edge, Pars were not completely lacking in drive and Alex Burke had an ambitious shot from the edge of the box tipped over the bar.

Sadly the play settled back into a familiar pattern and the Pars defence were all at sea once more. Dowie came close to taking his turn as villain when a header back to Fleming was dangerously close to being intercepted and Fleming had to be on guard to stop a Donnelly lob after the former Par strolled through a huge hole in the Pars sleepy back line.

There was no denying Donnelly a goal against his former club for much longer however. Failure to clear their lines saw the Pars firstly gift Cairney with a chance to double his tally when he found himself with possession and time inside the box. His shot was blocked but as it bounced back up Simon DONNELLY was on hand to nod home the rebound and bury the Pars.

The visitors` attempts to claw one back never convinced and after Cardle fired well over the target and Woods hit a shot that was easily saved, they finally came close only in the last minute of the game when substitute Holmes saw his 6-yard drive tipped onto the post by Tuffey.

The Thistle keeper celebrated his 100th start today but this would not go down as one of his busiest games. In the end the Pars looked like they might have played until Firhill`s next anniversary celebrations without scoring.

PARTICK THISTLE: Tuffey; Paton, Archibald, Hodge, Robertson, Maxwell, Cairney, Rowson, Doolan (Corcoran 59), Donnelly (Hamilton 79), Erskine (Boyle 76).
SUBS NOT USED: Hinchcliffe, Kinniburgh,
SCORERS: Cairney (39), Donnelly (70)

DUNFERMLINE: Greg Fleming; Calum Woods, Andy Dowie, Neil McGregor, Austin McCann (Scott Muirhead 39); Willie Gibson (Graeme Holmes 66), Nick Phinn, Alex Burke, Joe Cardle; Andy Kirk, Graham Bayne
SUBS NOT USED: Greg Ross, Jordan White, Greg Paterson (GK)
YELLOW CARD: Woods, Dowie

REFEREE: Charlie Richmond
WEATHER:
ATTENDANCE 3263

NEXT MATCH: (away) Co-operative Insurance Cup v Hearts
Wednesday 23rd September kick off 7.45pm

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Match Photos To Follow.

Preview Partick Thistle

Wednesday, 16th Sep 2009

Matches between the clubs are always hotly contested but the Fifers have the upper hand with 30 wins in the 70 league games.

This Saturday the Pars make the trip to Firhill to face Partick Thistle. Firhill will celebrate its 100 birthday, the date being closest to Firhill`s first ever match on September 18th 1909 against Dumbarton Harp and history shows that the Pars have won on less than one in three visits.

Dunfermline v Thistle: The Full League Record
	P	W	D	L	For	Agst
At East End Park	36	18	12	6	66	49
At Firhill	34	12	8	14	40	55
Division One (up to 1975)	45	18	14	13	77	72
Premier Division (since 1975)	6	3	1	2	8	10
First Division (since 1975)	19	9	5	5	21	22
TOTALS	70	30	20	20	106	104

Matches between the clubs are always hotly contested but the Fifers have the upper hand with 30 wins in the 70 league games and a 3-2 win on their last visit there in February.

Milestones Partick (away)
Last League Victory	14/02/09	3-2	SFL
Last League Defeat	02/08/08	0-1	First Div
Best League Victory	20/04/66	6-2	Div One*
Worst League Defeat	10/11/34	1-7	Div One*
*Pre league reconstruction

Last Twelve League matches

The last dozen league games between the teams have seen Dunfermline win six, draw three and lose three. Two of those defeats were at Maryhill.

Last Twelve League Matches v Partick Thistle
Date	H/A	F-A	Scorers
14/03/09	H	0-1	[0-1] Harkins
14/02/09	A	3-2	[0-1] Buchanan, [1-1] Bell, [2-1] Kirk, [2-2] Doolan, [3-2] Loy (pen.)
18/10/08	H	1-0	[1-0] Kirk
02/08/08	A	0-1	[0-1] McKeown
05/04/08	A	1-0	[1-0] Crawford
16/02/08	H	1-1	[1-0] Crawford, [1-1] McKeown
15/12/07	A	1-1	[1-0] Burchill. [1-1] Buchanan
29/09/07	H	1-0	[1-0] Burchill
20/03/04	H	1-0	[1-0] Darren Young
27/12/03	A	1-4	[0-1] Thompson, [0-2] Grady (pen), [1-2] Brewster, [1-3] Ross, [1-4] Grady
27/09/03	H	2-1	[0-1] Grady, [1-1] Crawford, [1-2] Crawford
09/03/03	H	0-0

Partick Thistle	Dunfermline
Current League Position
6	7
League Form last five results
DDLWD	LWWLD
League Points
6	6
Goal Difference
+4	0
Home/Away Record
P5, W1, D3, L1	P5, W2, D0, L3

Recent Form

Dunfermline will be out to get a result for all their hard work but Thistle are equally in need of points.

Form this season
Partick Thistle				Dunfermline
Raith Rovers (A)	D	1-1		Dundee (A)	L	0-1
Morton (H)	L	0-1		Raith Rovers (H)	L	0-2
Queen of the South (A)	L	0-1		Airdrie United	W	2-0
Ross County (H)	D	0-0		Morton	W	2-0
Ayr United (A)	D	1-1		Inverness Caley	L	0-1

Last Time Out

DUNFERMLINE (v Dundee):  Greg Fleming; Calum Woods, Neil McGregor, Andy Dowie, Austin McCann; Steven McDougall (Nick Phinn 45), Steven Bell (Scott Muirhead, 89), Alex Burke, Joe Cardle (Greg Ross, 85); Andy Kirk, Graham Bayne (c).
SUBS NOT USED: Greg Paterson (GK), Chris Higgins.

PARTICK THISTLE: (v Raith Rovers): Jonny Tunney; Alan Archibald, Maxwell, Robertson, Donnelly(Hodge 46), David Rowson (Hamilton 75), Corcoran (Doohlan 57), Paton, Buchanan, Cairney, Erskine
SUBS NOT USED: Martyn Corrigan, Hinchcliffe

Come on ye Pars!

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