PARTICK TH 1
Fitzpatrick (15)
Partick Thistle manager Kris Doolan hopes his side are over their dip in form.
After going eight league games without a win, Thistle have turned the screw over the past few weeks and the Firhill boss is looking to get some extra points on the board to help in their pursuit of the play-offs then, subsequently, promotion to the top flight.
Doolan said: “I hope we’re hitting momentum at the right time. Every club will have their ups and downs – we had our dip but we still put points on the board – we were still drawing games and had a couple of defeats which is like everybody but we’ve bounced back with two wins.
“We spoke about it, wewanttogoonarun, we know what the playoffs are like, we want to be in there again and momentum is massive. We have seven games to go and want to build confidence.
“We want to finish the season strong, we don’t want to assume anything, we want to do it off our own back.
“That’s why doing back-to-back wins make a massive difference.
“You look at the Championship table and those wins make it look different.
“It’s a difficult place to come to and surprisingly a nice day – every point’s a prisoner in this league.”
Arbroath started with a good intensity and an Innes Murray corner from the right was met by a glancing header from Ricky Little that David Mitchell parried.
Partick took the lead on 15 minutes when Lewis Neilson played the ball wide for Aidan Fitzpatrick who guided his low effort past Derek Gaston at his near post.
Arbroath tried to respond, but a Murray ball across goal evaded Ryan Dow free in space.
Thistle thought they had doubled the advantage as Kerr Mcinroy had the ball in the net after good build-up play nine minutes after the opener but the midfielder was deemed offside.
Scott Robinson lashed home just after the restart but to Thistle’s frustration was also flagged offside.
The hosts had a shout for a penalty in the 90th minute, a Gordon Walker cross adjudged to hit the hand of Robinson but ref Steven Kirkland waved away the claims.
Red Lichties gaffer Jim Mcintyre said: “The key frustration for me is the final ball wasn’t good enough, the boys are competing but didn’t do enough for a result.”