Archibald laments mad minute that proved so crucial
Alan Archibald believes assistant referee Douglas Ross cost Partick Thistle a precious opening goal against Hibernian as the 10-man Jags succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at Easter Road.
The visitors thought they had broken the deadlock deep into the second period when a Baily Cargill header squirmed under the body of Cammy Bell and appeared to trickle over the line.
Daniel Devine smashed the ball home to make sure, at which point Mr Ross raised his flag to indicate an offside – believed to be due to Miles Storey standing in Bell’s line of sight and making a movement towards the ball.
Less than 60 seconds later, Hibs scampered up the other end and scored through Martin Boyle before Paul Hanlon settled the contest. A forgettable afternoon for Devine ended prematurely when he was dismissed by referee Andrew Dallas. “I watched the disallowed goal back and we think offside has been given against Miles Storey because he was standing around the area of the goalkeeper,” explained Archibald, whose side remain in a relegation play-off place.
“But he didn’t impede the goalkeeper (Bell), who made the save. The ball then trundles into the net before Danny Devine got to it, so I’m not quite sure – I didn’t waste my time chapping his (Dallas’) door.
“Having said that, we maybe felt sorry for ourselves and should have defended better at their opening goal.
“Things work differently at the bottom end of the league. We’ve all been there so we just need to lick our wounds and look forward to Tuesday against Ross County.
“The lads played really well up until that point.”
Following a sluggish start, Dylan Mcgeouch, who shook off the cruel groin strain which robbed him of the chance to make his Scotland debut, almost gave the capital club the lead, latching on to a Florian Kamberi cut-back and forcing a magnificent save from Tomas Cerny.
That would prove to be the former Hibs keeper’s final action. Injured making the stop, he was replaced by Ryan Scully.
Partick were afforded a glorious opportunity to open the scoring after the break when Efe Ambrose produced one of those errant moments that have littered an otherwise impressive career, clumsily ceding possession to Miles Storey, who found strike partner Conor Sammon, only for Cammy Bell to produce a fine point-blank block.
And the contest was ultimately defined by those whirlwind 60 seconds.
Jags centre-back Cargill met a superb Ryan Edwards corner and powered a header towards goal and, despite a touch from Bell, the effort appeared to cross the line.
It certainly did when Devine lashed the ball into the net. However, the celebrations were cut short by Ross’ flag.
With the visiting players still ruing their misfortune, Hibs scampered forward through the speedy Boyle, who surged down the right and produced a marvellous low delivery for Maclaren to fire beyond Scully.
Hanlon added the second from a corner and any hopes of a Thistle comeback were quashed when Devine was dismissed for a second bookable offence.
“It was a very flat first half,” said Hibs boss Neil Lennon. “We lacked energy and urgency, but were a lot better in the second half and it was a great win in the context of the season.”