Jags too sharp as ring-rusty Saints’ fail to win at home again
Partick Thistle deserved to win this game to give them their first SPFL Premiership away win in 17 attempts, an unwanted run that lasted 10 months.
Goals from Stevie Lawless, Conor Sammon and Ryan Edwards brought Alan Archibald’s side a welcome three points as they bid to move away from the bottom two places in the league.
St Johnstone can have no complaints about the result.
They were two goals down before pulling one back through a Liam Craig penalty. But they conceded another goal late in the game.
This was their first outing in 2018 due to Scottish Cup postponements and the four week lay-off showed.
Tommy Wright’s men have now gone eight games at home without a victory.
The visitors started brightly and had two opportunities to take the lead inside three minutes.
Miles Storey rolled an inviting ball along the sixyard box and it looked a straightforward tap-in for Niall Keown.
But the central defender failed to connect. The ball then made its way to Sammon at the back post and he shot wide.
But the Jags didn’t have long to wait to break the deadlock.
It came in the 13th minute when Storey was in fine form once again down the left. He dribbled past two Perth players and then picked out Lawless with a beautifully weighted cut-back.
Lawless had created a lovely angle to receive the ball and he placed a fine left-foot curling shot past Zander Clark into the top left-hand corner of the net.
Thistle were comfortable for the opening half. Sammon came close to scoring with a shot just before the interval. Archibald’s men kept possession well and defended with purpose and determination.
For Saints, they had a goal disallowed in the
15th minute when Steven MacLean netted, but the ref chalked it off for a foul inside the box. The decision left Wright angry and he let the officials know.
At half-time, he demanded more from his players. He knew they had to up their game. Sub David McMillan forced Tomas Cerny into an outstanding save.
But the away team doubled their advantage in the 64th minute when sub Edwards produced lovely skill to set up Sammon and he stroked the ball home from four yards.
There was controversy in the 70th minute when a long ball from Craig resulted in a 50-50 between McMillan and Cerny at the edge of the area.
McMillan won it but the keeper followed through, taking the player out with a high body challenge.
A penalty was awarded and Craig sent Cerny the wrong way with a cool finish.
The Perth club pushed for an equaliser but to no avail. Indeed they were caught on the counter-attack in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Edwards collected the ball just inside his own half and skipped past Chris Millar for a one on one with Clark.
After running 50 yards, he showed enough composure to place the ball past the keeper from 12 yards out.