Doolan picks perfect day to complete his century
PARTICK THISTLE striker Kris Doolan became a centurion yesterday and he could hardly have chosen a better occasion than to reach his league ton.
Captaining the side in place of the benched Abdul Osman, his flashing header brought the Jags back into the game and inspired them to a 2-1 victory.
‘Getting my 100th league goal was the perfect way to round that performance off in the first game with the John Lambie stand open. There couldn’t have been a more fitting time to score it, albeit it was in weird circumstances — an 18-yard header is not something I’m known for!
‘I hope John was looking down on me. I felt as if I could have scored every time the ball came into the box.’
Doolan believes that the Jags can kick on and retain their top-tier status.
‘It’s a massive win,’ he said. ‘All the tributes for Lambie are amazing but just to get those three points was huge for us.
‘If you see the changing room now, it’s completely different to a few weeks ago and the way it has been for most of the season — it’s nice to see everybody enjoying football again.
‘I don’t think Hamilton had any of the ball in the first half but David Templeton had a tremendous finish, cutting in on his right foot.
‘We should have stopped that but it’s credit to the team that we didn’t try to sit in and steal a goal, we continued to press forward and we end up scoring two.’
Thistle now travel to Perth to face St Johnstone, buoyed by moving off the bottom.
‘We play better at McDiarmid Park than we do against them here, for some reason,’ said Doolan.
‘It’s a pitch that the players seem to enjoy playing on and we’ve had a massive shot in the arm with this result. We’ve shown how dangerous we can be going forward.’