A MENTAL MUDDLE
Thistle ‘too worried’ about conceding, says Barton
IF eveR there was a book on the art of self-destruction, not only would Partick Thistle be able to recite it chapter and verse, they would likely invent a couple of stunning new methods of their own.
even by their standards, this was an impressive example of how to snatch disaster from the jaws of impending glory.
They dominated Ross County and looked certain to register their first victory and first clean sheet since the opening day of the season thanks to Sean Welsh’s first-half penalty.
Thistle keeper Ryan Scully had nothing to do all afternoon until he was required to pick the ball out of the net after Chris Burke had fired a 95th-minute equaliser.
Indeed, Scully was called into action again in the 97th minute. As County summoned a frenzied late assault, he made a sprawling save to deny Ryan Dow what would have been daylight robbery by the Highlanders.
The match burst into life during nine minutes of stoppage-time which were added due to a hefty collision between Scully and Liam Lindsay. After being stretchered off in a neck brace, hospital check-ups on Saturday night confirmed the 21-year-old centre-half is okay.
Alongside Lindsay in a three-man central defence, Adam Barton was a stand-out. The 25-year-old strolled his way through the match; passing the ball out from the back with composure, making intelligent interceptions and heading the ball away with authority.
Yet, despite looking solid for so long, there are times when a ScotRail timetable must seem more dependable than Thistle’s defence. Reliably unreliable just about covers it.
The concession of late goals has become a theme of their season. Two points were also dropped late from a winning position last week against Hamilton, likewise against Motherwell in September, while Hearts struck a 90th-minute winner at Firhill in August.
That tallies up to seven points thrown away already this campaign. Had they held on to them, they would be sitting in sixth place in the Premiership.
Barton, wearing the look of a thoroughly scunnered man as he walked into the Firhill media room on Saturday evening, shed some light on what the problem may be.
‘It’s beginning to be a psychological thing,’ he said. ‘We’re going into games thinking we have to keep clean sheets — and that’s not good because you’re worrying too much about defending.
‘We have to work on our attacking play. The lads are getting in great positions, but we are just not testing their keeper as much as we’d like.
‘That comes down to working on forward play. There’s only so much defensive play you can work on. We need to get over this thought of defend, defend, defend.
‘If we got the win, we would be a lot more relaxed for Wednesday (when they face Dundee). Now, we’ll just be feeling the same pressure as we did today.
‘Despite dominating, we were lucky to get a point because Ryan Scully made a great save to deny County a second goal in injury time.
‘It feels like a defeat. In the last ten minutes of games, teams pile pressure on us and we have to find a way of being able to deal with that.’
Welsh gave Thistle the lead on 24 minutes, thumping his penalty straight down the middle after Dow had clumsily tripped Kris Doolan.
Thistle were in cruise control. But, with only a one-goal lead to show for their dominance, there was always a danger they could be undone by a sucker punch. And so it proved.
County felt aggrieved they were not awarded a penalty just seconds earlier when Ade Azeez tangled with Burke, but the ex-Rangers winger still went on to have the final say in the 95th minute.
Barton had done well to head clear the initial danger, which fell to Burke inside Partick’s half. He was then afforded the freedom of Maryhill to scurry forward and drill the ball low across Scully and into the bottom right-hand corner.
There were no shortage of words offered to describe Thistle’s momentary lapse in concentration from those housed in the Jackie Husband Stand. Understandably, none of them were printable.