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Welcome to today’s Cinch Championship game Partick Thistle v Raith Rovers. No change to the Raith side. It’s sunny and mild here today and the pitch looking good. Today’s referee is Michael McDermid assisted by Calum Spence and Chris Rae
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Teams are making their way into the pitch
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Dylan Easton gets this afternoon’s game underway
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Raith shooting towards the city centre end
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Goal Partick
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After a good save from MacDonald, the ball pinged about the Raith box with Raith blocking balls being shot their way. Eventually Tiffoney slots home for Partick
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Connolly to Stanton who has a shot, ball blocked but ball falls back to him to have another go. Unfortunately ball goes wide
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Free kick Raith after Liam Dick’s pass to Gullan results in Gullan being fouled
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Ball floated into the Partick box. It’s headed towards goal but Mitchell comfortably gathers
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Partick get the ball into the Raith box but O’RIordan there to clear
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Stanton passes to Gullan who tries to do a wee back healer on to Ross but it doesn’t work out
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Millen does well to intercept a Partick threat
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Nolan with the long ball up to Gullan but he’s judged to be offside
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Good ball from Liam Dick to Stanton, the latter tries to cross the ball into the box but it’s cleared
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O’Riordan done well to put off Graham as he has an opportunity to head the ball towards goal, thankfully it goes wide
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Easton tries to pounce on a Docherty mistake but can’t quite make it matter
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O’Riordan’s long ball to Gullan is just too ambitious as Partick cover
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Gullan picks up a loose ball, aims to switch play but the pass is misjudged and Partick win back the ball
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Ref is allowing the teams to take a water break.
Partick are strong when in possession. Raith are starting to pass the ball around and make their way forward tho.
Partick 1 ( Tiffoney 2,) Raith 0
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Bannigan with a dangerous ball into the Raith box but Nolan gets a head to it. Partick corner
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Partick free kick as Connolly fouls
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Free kick Raith after a Gullan is fouls just in Partick half
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Brown with pass into the box but it’s straight to Mitchell who gathers
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O’Riordan does well to track back to stop Graham making any further advances
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Ball floated into the Partick box. Ross is there jumps up for a header but it’s not controlled enough to make an impact and Mitchell gathers
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McMillan for Partick with a high ball into the Raith box but it thankfully goes straight out for a goal kick
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Partick close as the ball falls to Graham in the Raith box but again O’Riordan does well to get a toe to the ball, Partick corner
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Partick think they have scored goal number two but ref says nope and gives a foul
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Raith freekick after a foul on Ross
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Partick freekick and Connolly is booked after only a few minutes since the ref had a word with him
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Nolan misjudges the ball and Lawless for Partick is on his heals, picks up the mistake and slots home number two for Partick
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GOOOOAAAALLLLL RAITH
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ROSS replies as he thumps the ball home for goal number one for Raith
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Corner Partick as they attack the Raith defence
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From the corner O’Riordan blasts the ball away
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Corner Raith as Easton, Stanton and Liam Dick work well to get the ball upfield
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+1 Connolly with the short corner to Easton but his effort is wide
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+1 ref blows for half time Partick Thistle 2 (Tiffoney 2’, Lawless40’) Raith 1. (Ross 42’)
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Partick get the second half underway. Raith shooting towards the student accommodation end
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Partick corner as Nolan deflects the ball
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MacDonald so sharp as he reacts well to smother the ball as Partick shoot
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Corner Raith as Millen heads out the ballad Partick attack
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Freekick Raith as Ross is brought to ground as he steams upfield
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Partick defend well as Raith try to find a way through
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Ball falls to Graham and Brown fouls him. Freekick Partickapprox 25 yards out
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McKinnon’s shocking freekick works in Raith’s favour, goalkick
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Play halted as MacDonald receives treatment
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Raith sub off MacDonald and bring on Thomson
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Liam Dick with a great pass to Connolly who is in the box. He has a pop but ball cleared. Falls to Brown who also has a pop but ball blocked
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Freekick Raith after a foul on Easton
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Raith sub off Nolan and bring on Connell
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Connell is so close as he has a shot and the ball bounces off the post
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Partick sub off Graham and Tiffoney and bring on Dowds and Fitzpatrick
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Crowd today so 3,211
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Freekick Raith approx 30 yards out after Connell is fouled
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Freekick taken and the ball is over the bar
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Ross wins the ball but is disposed in the box, he does tho win a throw in for a Raith as he tries to win the ball back
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A Connell long throw right into the Partick box (might become a regular thing) but it’s headed clear
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Water break again
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30 sec water break over and play gets back underway
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O’Riordan does well to block a threat from Partick allowing Thomson to gather the ball
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Partick sub off Bannigan and Lawless and bring on Turner and Muirhead
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Freekick Raith but I didn’t catch if Akinola was booked, ref certainly spoke to him
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Connell with a great quick pass into the Partick box but Gullan couldn’t react quick enough
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Dowds is put off as he heads towards the Raith goal
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Easton wins a corner for Raith
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Ball is put high across the box but it’s too high for O’Riordan to do anything with
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Here comes another Connell long through but nothing comes of it
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Partick free kick as Liam Dick fouls, ref indicates one more chance
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Apologies Raith sub off Millen and bring on Coulson
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Great play by Raith as they get the ball into the danger area. All Ross had to do was slot the ball away but it goes wide
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Freekick Partick as Gullan fouls with high feet.
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Raith sub off Liam Dick and Stanton and bring on Ngwenya and Arnott
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Partick vote Lawless as their man of the match I personally feel O’Riordan has been superb for Raith
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Freekick Raith just in their half
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Arnott does well to track his man back and put him off
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Brown does well to dispose Partick as they charge forward
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Partick corner
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Throw in Partick now
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Partick sub off McKinnon and bring on Smith
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Connell tries to unleash a shot but he’s blocked
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Thomson has to charge out to clear a Partick threat
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Connell long throw ccentre of the box, ball goes out Brown thumps it in but ball over the bar
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Ref blows a high paced game to an end Partick 2 (Tiffoney 2’, Lawless 40’) Raith 1 ( Ross42’). Entertaining for the neutral.
Partick Thistle: Mitchell, McMillan, Milne, Holt Tiffoney, Bannigan, Graham, Lawless, McKinnon, Akinola, Docherty (c)
Subs: Sneddon, Brownlie, Turner, Dowds, Smith, Weston, Fitzpatrick, Muirhead, Lyon
Raith Rovers: MacDonald, Dick, Millen, Nolan, Connolly, Gullan, O’Riordan, Stanton, Brown (c), Ross, Easton
Subs: Thomson, Ngwenya, Connell, Mahady, Arnott, Coulson
Subs: Sneddon, Brownlie, Turner, Dowds, Smith, Weston, Fitzpatrick, Muirhead, Lyon
Raith Rovers: MacDonald, Dick, Millen, Nolan, Connolly, Gullan, O’Riordan, Stanton, Brown (c), Ross, Easton
Subs: Thomson, Ngwenya, Connell, Mahady, Arnott, Coulson
© Eddie Doig 2022
Ian Murray spoke after the Firhill fixture:
Raith Rovers will be looking to make it three straight league wins this Saturday afternoon, but to do it, they’ll need to overcome arguably their toughest challenge to date, when they travel to Maryhill to take on Partick Thistle.
Ian McCall’s men currently sit second in the table, one place behind league leaders Ayr United, and just one point ahead of fifth placed Raith.
They go into this one on the back of a hugely impressive 4-1 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle, in a game where the home side could have won by more.
The Jags are the top scorers in the league with 10 goals, and Rovers will need to be particularly wary of former Raith striker, Brian Graham, who already has five points to his name in all competitions this season.
Rovers too go into this one on the back of some confidence boosting results, following up the 2-1 home win over Morton with a 2-0 away win at Hamilton last weekend.
Goals from Dylan Easton and Jamie Gullan were the difference in a dominant display which pushed Rovers up 4 places in the table.
Rovers will be hoping to replicate the same kind of result they pulled off the last time they visited this venue in April, when a goal in the last minute from Matej Poplatnik saw Rovers edge out the home side.
Saturday’s match referee will be Matthew MacDermid.
Head-To-Head Record:
Partick Thistle Wins: 61
Raith Rovers Wins: 41
Draw: 35