Jags ready for double header after deadlock
PARTICK THISTLE 0 AYR UNITED 0
Partick Thistle were forced to settle for a point after a Firhill stalemate as Ayr United did enough to put their Championship status beyond doubt.
The Maryhill men have just one game remaining before their play-off double header with Airdrie.
And boss Kris Doolan declared: “In the balance of things, we could have scored quite a few goals, but it just shows that there are fine margins in these games.
“But for me, a clean sheet is really important. Just thinking back to the playoffs last year, a strong defensive record was what we were built on.
“After we secured the play-offs, it was just to make sure that we get third, because the club hasn’t finished third since we won the league in 2013 so for me that was important.
“Coming into the play-offs the boys are in good spirits and are confident as well.”
It was the away side who started the brightest. Jamie Murphy flighted in a corner kick that was perfect for Jack Sanders to connect with,. but he saw his bullet header saved by David Mitchell in the Thistle goal.
The Jags began to see a large amount of possession and started to play some good football as the game slowly turned into one-way traffic with Ayr forced on to the backfoot.
They created a decent opportunity when Jack McMillan’s cut-back fell kindly at the feet of Kerr McInroy, but his effort smashed off of the side netting.
McMillan was proving a threat to the Honest Men’s defence and soon after he again found space down the righthandside.
His cross fell perfectly to the Jags’ skipper, Brian Graham, but his effort went over the bar.
As Partick piled on the pressure, Aidan Fitzpatrick played a perfectly weighted pass to Scott Robinson, whose effort seemed destined for the back of the net before a goal-saving block by the foot of Josh Clarke
helped clear the ball to safety.
Fitzpatrick then sent a dangerous cross into the box which fell to Graham but yet again Thistle’s top scorer failed to hit the target.
Graham did eventually find the back of the net soon after, but the linesmen ruled his “goal” out for offside.
Early in the second period, Stuart Brannigan had a chance to get his side in front but his effort went narrowly wide of the post.
As the game progressed, Ayr started to
grow in confidence, creating some chances of their own.
Logan Chalmers found space in the box but his lay off was scrambled away by the Thistle defence.
And with 10 minutes to go Fitzpatrick had another Jags effort at goal but United keeper Clarke was equal to it.
The referee’s final whistle brought dismay for the home side as they will have felt it was two points dropped.
United boss Scott Brown, appointed in mid-season with the team wobbling, said: “Job done! We’ve still got a game to go and we want to try to push on for fifth in the league so need to keep spirits high.
“I thought today’s performance was really good.
“We built up from the back, maybe lacked a little in the final third but it’s all coming together and to limit them to one shot on target against a top team is a positive.
“We were waiting on that Inverness result there, but it’s great, keeping the club up was our job when we came in.
“We can start looking forward to next season now, we have already had a few offers in for players.
“We want to try to get a bit of pace in and add a bit of quality to the team.”