The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Thomson head man as Lichties go third
Part-timers continue great start to campaign
A clinical finish by former Scotland star Kenny Miller earned Partick Thistle a point at Gayfield last night but Arbroath manager Dick Campbell was satisfied with the result.
The Gayfield supremo praised his players for a battling performance which put his side third in the Championship table.
He said: “I wasn’t unhappy with the draw. We went about our job the right way and played with the right spirit. Partick came back at us at the start of the second half but we did well.
“We could have been well up by halftime but we weren’t. Games are like that.
“We want this place to be a fortress. We don’t want teams coming here and swanning about. We have eight points from five games but this season is a marathon, not a sprint.”
The Lichties came close to opening the scoring in the third minute when centre back Tom O’Brien fired off a thunderous 30-yard drive which Scott Fox did brilliantly well to tip over the bar.
Bobby Linn then crossed into the danger area but David Gold couldn’t quite get under it and his header flew over the top.
Fox performed heroics shortly afterwards when tipping a powerful Linn free-kick on to a post.
The breakthrough came in the 14th minute and Linn was again involved, sending a beautifully weighted cross into the box for Jason Thomson to head beyond Fox.
Thistle were struggling to break down a well-organised home defence but Joe Cardle forced Darren Jamieson to make a fine block.
The Lichties were showing a strong desire to find a second goal and Michael McKenna was close to giving them it but Fox once again was Partick’s saviour.
Arbroath man McKenna had another chance moments later with a header which went past.
The Jags’ best chance came in added time at the end of the first half when O’Brien headed inches wide of his own post.
The visitors started the second period at a much higher tempo and began to assert more pressure on the home defence.
But the Lichties remained resolute and Gold created an opening for McKenna who headed over.
Thistle got the equaliser they probably deserved in the 64th minute and it was veteran striker Miller who did the damage, pouncing on a good lay-off to volley beyond the helpless Jamieson.
The part-time Gayfield side could have wilted but proved they are made of stern stuff by digging in .
Thistle continued to probe and claimed for a penalty when David Zanatta went down after making a surging run into the box.
Referee David Munro was unimpressed and issued the Partick man with a yellow card for diving.
The game began to open up even more in the closing stages as both sides went in search of a winner.
Jamieson kept his side in it with a fine save from a Reece Cole free-kick with six minutes to go.
But there was drama at the other end 60 seconds later when sub Luke Donnelly ran through to slot beyond Fox only to have his celebrations cut short when the assistant referee’s flag signalled offside.
Thistle boss Gary Caldwell was far from happy with the outcome.
He said: “It wasn’t good enough. We have to do better. We were OK for the first 20 minutes of the second half but then we went back to our first half performance. At half-time I could have substituted all of them. We have a good group of players but we need to find a winning mentality.”