No shocks as Jags fire Nomads out
Partick Thistle secured their place in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup with a comfortable win over Euro shock troops Connah’s Quay Nomads.
The Welsh have developed a reputation for upsetting Scottish opposition, famously knocking Kilmarnock out of the Europa League earlier in the season.
But despite a promising start to the game from the visitors, Thistle banished their dodgy domestic form to secure their passage into the next round courtesy of goals from Raffa De Vita and James Penrice.
Jags boss Ian Mccall declared: “They’ve had good results up here but I thought that we deserved it and the scoreline didn’t flatter us.
“There was an awful lot of things to like about our play in the first half and we didn’t get embroiled into how they play.”
The visitors should have been ahead on three minutes after some comical defending from Thistle. A horrendous mix-up between Sean Mcginty and goalkeeper Scott Fox allowed Michael Wilde to sneak in but his tame effort was cleared off the line by Steven Saunders.
After a promising start to the game both sides struggled to find their rhythm but Connah’s Quay remained a threat from setpieces and Tam O’ware had to be alert to block Wilde’s effort on 19 minutes.
Thistle’s first chance came soon after when Kenny Miller’s glanced header from a Joe Cardle cross was acrobatically fired wide by Lewis Brass.
The Jags took heart from the effort and went ahead when an excellent dummy by Osman Kakay freed him from his marker and he released Ryan Williamson who produced a pinpoint cross for De Vita to bullet a header past Brass from close range.
Despite being 39 years old, Miller has been arguably Thistle’s best player this season and he again tested Brass with a dipping effort that goalkeeper tipped wide on 40 minutes.
The game opened up in the second half as the visitors pressed for an equaliser and only a brilliant last-ditch clearance from Mcginty prevented Wilde tapping in Callum Roberts’ cross.
Veteran striker Miller spurned a glorious chance to seal the win for Thistle on 70 minutes when he checked on to his left-foot and fired over the bar from six yards after spurning the chance of a simple first-time finish.
However, the Jags weren’t left to rue Miller’s miss as academy graduate Penrice sealed the win when another excellent move culminated in substitute Tommy Robson cutting the ball across the box for the unmarked leftback to roll home.
On Miller’s chance, Mccall added: “You’d put your mortgage on Kenny to score but he is terrific for 39 and bought us a lot of fouls.”
Connah’s Quay counterpart Andy Morrison said: “They’re a good team. On paper they are better than us and on the day they were better than us – they deserved their win.”
STAR MAN: OSMAN KAKAY
may be very raw but Thistle badly lack pace and Kakay possesses it in abundance.