Jags and D ons offer Big Eck a dismal display
Scotland manager Alex McLeish took in the country’s only goalless draw from the directors’ box at Firhill yesterday.
And if Thistle supporters cheered as if the result was as good as a win, it was because when it comes to this fixture, it pretty much is.
The last dozen times these teams have met have returned 10 Aberdeen wins and two goalless draws.
It is a run which covers a potential 39 points, of which they have now taken three, and stretches all the way back to August 2014.
Here on a bleak, rain-swept, afternoon they never looked like busting the sequence but they could at least argue they didn’t deserve another defeat.
Thistle made Chris Erskine skipper for the day to mark his 250th appearance for the club and, although by his own admission he didn’t sparkle, he was involved in the game’s two biggest incidents of note.
It was his header which, via a deflection off Shay Logan, would have looped in at Freddie Woodman’s top corner but for Stevie May’s goal-line clearance.
Aberdeen had 11 men at that time but Erskine argued, it should have been 10.
That is because he felt Ryan Christie should have gone for his part in an earlier “last man” tangle which brought him crashing to the ground.
“I thought it was a foul. I have asked the ref afterwards why he didn’t give it and he said it was a coming together,” he said.
“Christie has played the ball short and then he grabs me as I’m running through.
“I don’t see how it can be a coming together if I’m running away from him.
“For me, it is a stonewall foul and he has to give it. It is also a red card.”
Watching from the stand it didn’t look anything like that clear cut and it was significant Jags boss Alan Archibald agreed with the referee that it had been a coming together.
They were but a couple of lively moments in a contest which was largely devoid of incident. It was all too easy to see why this was the fourth game in a row Aberdeen have failed to win.
They did have a couple of moments. Graeme Shinnie’s shot from eight yards out forced Tomas Cerny to pull off a terrific save after nice set-up play from Ryan Christie.
Then Stevie May stabbed just wide at the front post after Kenny Mclean had outpaced his markers with a break down the right.
Thistle started the second half at a clatter with Dons keeper Freddie Woodman saving well to deny Steven Lawless.
Stevie May then had to nod clear off his own goal line when a combination of Erskine and Shay Logan’s heads sent the ball looping towards the top corner.
And although it settled they remained positive with substitute Blair Spittal’s enterprising run ended only by a desperate block from Anthony O’Connor.
Ryan Edwards was unlucky at the death when his powerful shot was turned over the crossbar by Woodman.
“It wasn’t a classic,” said Thistle manager Alan Archibald, an observation which prompted a chuckle in the media room.
“We are delighted to get the point, delighted with the clean sheet as well.
“I thought we merited it, especially with the second-half performance.”
For Aberdeen, meanwhile, the trip to Rugby Park on Tuesday to face Kilmarnock in the clubs’ Scottish Cup quarterfinal replay looks treacherous.
A better display than produced here will be required if they are to progress in the competition.