Coyle thrilled as Queen’s run riot to shock Thistle

QUEEN’S PARK climbed to within a point of the summit of the Championship as they put Partick Thistle to the sword with a clinical attacking display.

Having had a reprieve in the first half when the normally reliable Aaron Muirhead saw his penalty strike the base of the post, they took full advantage of their good fortune as they put four past the league leaders, who toppled down from top spot, without reply.

Despite, however, the emphatic margin of their victory through goals from Tommy Robson, Stephen Eze and a Josh McPake double, Queen’s Park manager Owen Coyle insists the most pleasing aspect was shutting out Ian McCall’s side to record a clean sheet.

Coyle said: ‘Second half was as good a performance as we’ve had this season.

‘We scored four very good goals and we could have had others but so could Partick Thistle.

‘We’re not fooled by the margin of the score, we were the better team, there’s no arguments about that.

‘We have good players at the top end of the pitch but what we’re trying to gather is those clean sheets because we’ve not had a lot of them.

;The four goals are nice but I was happier with the clean sheet.”

Partick Thistle were awarded a penalty when Lee Kilday was penalised for handball by referee Chris Graham when Brian Graham’s header struck his arm but from 12 yards Muirhead rattled his penalty against the post.

It would prove a costly miss as just a few minutes later Queen’s Park made the breakthrough as full-back Robson raced onto a through ball and drilled a low shot beyond Jamie Sneddon.

After the interval Eze doubled Queen’s Park’s lead with a powerful header from a Dom Thomas corner.

Then in the 56th minute McPake, who is on loan from Rangers, opened his goalscoring account for the Spiders with a neat finish from inside the penalty area.

McPake went close to Queen’s Park’s fourth when he curled a left-foot shot from 20 yards that beat Sneddon but struck the post.

However, with just four minutes remaining, McPake did get his second and Queen’s Park’s fourth as he cut onto his left-foot and curled a shot into the back of the net to seal Owen Coyle’s charges biggest win of the season.

Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall admitted he was stunned by the scoreline but challenged his players to bounce back and regain top spot in the Championship when they face Ayr United on Tuesday.

McCall said: ‘I didn’t see that coming after the first half. Nobody will tell me different, I thought we were excellent in the first half and should have been 2-0 or 3-0 up half-time.

‘I’ve been informed that Aaron’s 33rd penalty and he’s scored 31 of the first ones but anyone can miss a penalty. We had other chances and some of our football was great.’