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Bannigan stands by penalty villain

STUART Bannigan has pretty much seen it all in a Partick Thistle jersey. He may only be 23, but the experiences he can lean on can prove invaluable for him and his teammates.

That’s why he is so sure that young Aidan Nesbitt can brush off his disappointment at conceding the penalty that gave Motherwell the crucial opening goal in Saturday’s win over Thistle at Fir Park.

Bannigan himself has been in that movie before, giving away a spot-kick just after Christmas a couple of years ago at the same venue to hand the Steelmen a crucial three points.

He got over it quickly to go on and establish himself as a sought-after mainstay of the Jags’ midfield, and he has backed Nesbitt to follow his lead.

“Aidan was obviously disappointed, you don’t want to give away a penalty,” he said.

“I’ve been there myself, I gave away a penalty here before and we got beat 1-0, so these things happen and it’s an honest mistake from him.

“It was one of those ones where he’s put his hands up and clipped his legs, so he’ll learn from it.

“He’ll take none of the blame, it’s a team game.”

As critical as the concession of the penalty was, in truth Thistle failed to do themselves justice over the 90 minutes, a fact recognised by Bannigan.

He said: “We didn’t start at all, did we? We didn’t play at all until after 70 minutes when we were three-nil down and the game was really done.

“They outmatched us all over the park. It was a tough game for us and we’re disappointed with our performance.”

The late flurry by Thistle at least gave their sizeable following some hope that a better performance may await them should they also make the journey to Perth in midweek.

“We sort of spooked them a wee bit with the goal to make it 3-1, but it was too little, too late,” Bannigan added.

“The good thing is we’ve got a lot of games coming up. We’ll be looking to put it right on Wednesday.”