Absolute tripe and I've barely calmed down.

Rowson was yet again absolutely woeful, and bringing him back was daft. He just looked totally clueless on the ball. Paton was for the most part poor again, a couple of magnificent tackles, but A LOT of wasted balls. The same goes for Harkins. Its as if Rowson is immune from being subbed as well, if anyone should have been subbed it should have been him, not McStay who at least put himself about winning a lot of challenges.

Onto the ref. Red card IMO, and while it looked like Craig was trapping Robbo's foot, Robbo should have just left his foot still, even though things just happen in a split second.

The ref had a shocker. Pandered to their petty fouls, timewasting, diving and whining all day particularly the number 10 Craig who I wouldn't mind suffering a serious injury anytime soon, cheating c**t. No wonder the refs get flack when they can't control a fucking 1st division game, god help that fat waster if he ever has to ref an OF game, and I wouldn't be surprised considering how bad the standard is.


In the end no surprise. Decent turnout, utter pish on the park, what more needs to be said?

Before I talk about the game's key moment I'd just like to make it clear that County were worthy of their win. Some Thistle fans may say we were poor, but County didn't let us play. Their midfield and front two harried and pressed any Thistle player on the ball meaning we were unable to play the kind of football displayed against St Johnstone and had to resort to humping high balls up front. Meat and drink to County's giant backline.

The disappointing thing is that we know Keddie, Dowie, Boyd and McCulloch are nothing special, but we made them look like a formidable unit. On the two occasion we did cut them open we should have scored. That's the second week in a row Lennon has fired straight at the keeper when one-on-one and Harkins really should have got the free header he had in the first half on target, if not in the top corner.

There is no doubt Robbo deserved to walk. I thought Craig (who loves to hit the ground at any given opportunity) was lucky to get away with his little kick/foot lock on big John, but there's no way you can justify stamping on someone, which he clearly did.

The game was over as a contest following that. County were happy to play the ball about and hold on to their lead and why should anyone begrudge them it?

Aside from our players, two individuals were at the centre of my ire. The ref was completely clueless and the sending off offence - one of only a tiny number of correct decisions made throughout the game - was spotted by the linesman. Tony Bullock also ripped my knitting and has deservedly inherited the 'Bryn Halliwell Prick Between The Sticks Award'.

Best game Boyd has ever played at Firhill. Looked far more confident than he ever did with us. Was a skinny nervous shitebag with us now he seems willing to get stuck in and doesn't hit a stray pass like he did all the time with us.

Obviously achieved what he intended to

I have said before that our midfield and attack are capable of giving every side in this division problems. For me Richie Hart has been immense so far for us, his drive and engine in the midfield give us something that has been missing since Cowie left. I expected Partick to beat us just, but had hoped for a sneaky wee result and we have produced that. Which will give us confidence going into Wednesday's game against Queens.

County's defence is extremely strong in the air, and if Partick have to resort to the long ball game that shows how well our midfield and attack played and kept possesion. A great result for County and hopefully we can string a few results together now as I believe we have not got the points our play has deserved so far.

Well done County. A further two away games before we finally get another home game. The way St Johnstone are struggling we would be favourites to beat them again.

What did Bullock do to rip your knitting Nizzy?

He breathed.

Could be worse Niz, could have lost to Clyde

Superb 3 points today.

1st half was fairly even but county had the better chances. The one and only shot on target in the first half for Partick came when Lennon got in on goal but it was well saved by Bullock.
Countys goal came from a free-kick floated into the backpost leaving the keeper stranded and Craig headed it in. We had another two shots from Hart and Brittain on the edge of the box which were both blocked on the line. Then Particks keeper Tuffey justified his international call up with a great point blank save from Craigs header 5 yards out.
Just on HT Ex-county player John Robertson was sent off for apparently stamping on Craig but i never seen it. Seemed controversial:unsure:

2nd half Partick never really threatened from what i remember. They had a couple shots but Bullock dealt with them easily. Brittain went close from 12 yards beating Tuffey but Maxwell some how kept it out? Craig hit the post but was offside and Daal missed a sitter from 10yards out in the last minute.

Good to see Gardyne back but Winters was MotM. Held the ball up brilliantly,skillfully took on Partick players with ease and hardly gave the ball away. Craig was impressive too when he was on the ball but his passing is sloppy at times. Boyd played well at the back too.

Bring on the Doonhammers.

Doonhamers. As in Doon Hame. But this has morphed into Doon Hammers.

My baaad.

Both teams had two chances in the first half. Lennon and Harkins for Thistle and Craig's two for County.

The ball came off Craig's shoulder.

We had more than two chances first half but im not really bothered - its the 3 points that counts.

Yeah i thought it came off Craigs back at first but on the radio it said he headed it so just went with that...

That was awful. Rowson's patrolling of the centre circle, without ever getting near the ball was infuriating. He just doesn't look interested in going for the 50-50s, and served no real purpose. He didn't protect the defence, he didn't keep the ball, he didn't create. If I was McCall I'd lock him in the changing rooms until Monday so he can think about that performance.

County were neat and tidy as I expected, and Richie Hart's a clever player. Their timewasting at the end was just plain cheating. The throw in situation just summed it up. We clear the ball out of play, and it ends up at Bullock. He punts it past the County thrower, and then another County player pushes it further away, and the balls away for another minute. The ref should have clamped down on at, but County were very clever with it once they scored.

I didn't see the sending off and expected Craig to get booked for being petulant, but others have said it's a sending off.

Generally we looked clueless, and we have nobody that can play upfront on their own, so the punts up to Boyd and Dowie were eaten up. Results didn't go to badly for us which is a good thing, but it's hard to remain positive after that.

If it makes you feel any better Boyd wasn't too good at Broadwood a couple of weeks ago. A number of poor passes and managed to get closed down as the last man a couple of times. This while his team were coasting. I thought he was the only notable weakness for RC in the first half that day.

County were well worth their win, completely controlling the midfield and defending well (thought Scott Boyd played very well. Although their goal was deserved, the free kick it came from was not (Maxwell apparently stood too close to a County player while heading the ball clear) but the cross to the far post was a cracker and Stephen"cheating b*****d"Craig did well to get to the ball which, I think, went in off his back. Tuffy brought off a great save from the affore mentioned cheating b*****d a few minutes later.
Thistle should have scored first when Lennon was through with the keeper to beat but other than that we really only had a couple of Harkins shots to get excited about in the second half. As for the sending off, I saw Robertson stamp on Stephen"cheating b*****d"Craig while the cheating b*****d was hanging on to his leg so he had to go.
It was just a bad day today in league where anyone can beat anyone else so I'm not too disheartened.
Oh, by the way, did I mention that Stephen"cheating b*****d"Craig is a cheating b*****d?

Very poor display. I don't think the stamp was intentional (sp?) as Robertson was trying to break free of Craig and that Robbo is experienced enough not to do that. McStay was just a passenger he can leave as soon as possible. Why start Rowson who was clearly not match-fit when somebody like Chaplain is fit enough? Why play high punts to Lennon all the time, when he isn't going to win them?

Ref was shocking! How did he not pick up on Ross County's time-wasting, which they did ever since they scored. Was the two-footed lun on Rowson when the ball was away not a straigh red? Hart's two-footed tackle from the back on Chaplain was surely a booking, but he only got booked for dissent, so that should've been a red card. The amount of time's he gave free-kicks for nothing was unbelievable. Scott Boyd (who looked a completely different player from when he left us) went up with his elbows every time.

McStay at least managed to win some challenges, just on the ball, like most of the team he was fairly clueless and just opted to play backward passes. He has played not bad the last two games and is worth keeping around, if anything Rowson should have been subbed. If McStay wasn't subbed and allowed to play out the game it would help him immensely as I believe he has been shite because his confidence has been dented by basically being frozen out.

I've explained why we had to resort to punting high balls to our front men.

Hart was booked for a late sliding challenge on Sid. It was Gardyne who made the two footed lunge from the back and it was on Rowson, not Chaplain.

Boyd led with his elbows on a couple of occasions and I can't understand why the ref didn't deem this worthy of a free kick in Thistle's direction when the set piece that led to their goal was given on account of Maxi jumping higher than the County forward.

Didn't expect this result at all today, so well chuffed. Especially keeping a clean sheet.
We are well capable of staying in this league, but you can only have so many 'hard luck' stories (ie unlucky v Dundee, crap ref v Livi, and threw away 2 goal lead v Clyde).;
To go to Firhill and plunder all 3 points will give us a massive confidence boost.

Nothing really to do with your post Dolphin, but did Derek Adams really come out with the quote in your sig?

The better team won today. I'm just glad that we didn't lose by more than one today. We were abysmal.

John Robertson was an idiot for stamping on Craig, there really was no need as he won the foul in the first place. I don't know why he was applauded off by our fans - his stupidity made our task even harder and he was having a shocker of a game up until then.

Gary Harkins was awful today. Trying to beat 5 men is fine when you are 5 up, not when you are 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go and you only have 10 men.

Rowson shouldn't have been near the starting line-up as it was clear he was miles off the pace. Why did McCall feel the need to change our midfield after our recent performances?

Paul Paton - Oh Dear! He was diabolical today. Apart from scoring a cracking goal last week, he has done nothing to suggest he is good enough for the first division. He is so one sided it's unreal. He has no confidence to go past his man and he leaves the defence short time, and time again.

I think this could be the kick up the arse our team and fans needed. I had to laugh when I seen several posters on the Jagsforum giving 4-0 and 5-0 victory predictions. They can't have been watching Thistle for more than a couple of season.

Despite all of todays doom and gloom, I expect us to be up there at the end of the season and I think today could have the reality check our players and fans needed.

OBSESSED

Yes he did!
After clinching the Div2 title he was pushed on to the pitch and had a mike thrust under his nose, so he came out with some pish....

Who ever your right back was he was dreadful so im guessing it was paton?

Correct.

The bit in the second half when Paton took on Morrison, and then stood on the ball and fell over, just summed up his game.

Great result for County today! It just shows that maybe all these dodge ref decisions do even themselves out over the season! Would have to agree the ref was shocking today in County's favour but our last league game ended in us getting cheated out of any chance of 3pts at Livi in fact cheated out of any chance of a contest with livi.

My only slight concern would be that we never added to the lead, we have to kill teams off in situations like that and maybe at times over played on the edge of thistle box rather than having a dig.

To MTJ! To wish serious injury on any player is just plain petty, imagine the guilt you will feel if he gets a career ender next weekend. I wouldn’t even wish that on Ross Tokely.

The manner in which Craig throws himself on to the deck suggests to me he's likely to injure himself. It would be karma, dude.

I saw it happen to Rocco Quinn once. Funny.

Paton is just too one footed. He relies on Robertson a lot to bail him out. That was the case a couple of times against St Johnstone last Saturday, and by the sounds of it, he struggled without him in this.

I would just laugh and think GIRUY, Craig is hardly the most sportsmanlike player going on that so I wouldn't return the favour. I have no time for players on the opposition team who do their best to ruin the game and cheat me out of money with antics like his.

If he injures himself diving then it is karma i agree

It's still not right a fellow supporter wishing SERIOUS injury on him just because a ref was dump and one of your players tried and failed to injury him seriously thus probably costing you any chance of the game!! Im sure you boys will be sitting/standing some where this season thinking this ref is crap but i don’t mind so much today as we aint on the receiving end!

First post, yay. Been lurking here for a while... dunno why I decided to start posting today, but I did, and here I am.


Anyway, Thistle were shite. I don't know if we just underestimated County, or what the hell happened, but that was our worst performance of the season by far. Second to every ball, no creativity, and almost everyone on the team had a bad game. Robertson is an idiot, don't know what the hell he was playing at stamping on Craig. I was down near the front today and saw it clearly; definite sending off. The worst thing about it was it was probably the ONE decision the officials actually got right today, and it cost us any chance of getting back into the game.

Full marks to County for the way they closed us down and stopped Thistle playing. Had far better chances than us as well. Deserving of the win.

However, it was sad to see certain County players wasting time from around 25 minutes into the game. I know you've got a lead, but come on. Players going down all over the place, and kicking the ball away absolutely every time the referee blew his whistle. I can't believe Craig escaped without a booking; he was guilty of this on about 5 separate occasions.

In the end, as has been mentioned already, this could be a good reality check for the players. It came at pretty much the best time as well. There's still a long way to go, and if the players can take this setback as a warning that there are no easy games in this division, then all the better for us for the rest of the season.

Good turnout today as well. Almost 3,000 at the game, and with County bringing less than 100. Strong showing from the Jags fans.

Suppose it's ok if you're own players attempt to ruin the game then.

Pretty sad really

I take it John Robertson wont be your favourite player then!! Lets see you dont like players Cheating you out of money and Ruining games...........................Yip ticks both boxes

Your a joke

If I'm honest it wasn't hard enough.

That's what she said

i wish i had started like that ...but no




i just hope this hasent put to many off!!!
typical thistle...playin well, crowds comin bak...oopsy

sorry my bad, should'nt trust friends

I thought the tanoy announcer said 2,900 and something.

http://ptfc.co.uk/pressbox/match_reports.asp?id=243

you've mixed up your digits mate...

My bad, acctually my mates bad, never trust someone to tell you something.

For me, the better team won today. Partick could have still been playing now and still not scored and we'll never if having 11 men on the park in the second half might have made a difference. Then again they had 11 in the first and did nothing.

Steven Craig played well for me today, although he did, in fairness, go down a little easily at times. Of course the moment of the match was the decision to send John Robertson off, which was atrocious. And Craig scored with his shoulder. He said that himself I've heard.

However you can't blame the ref on that one as I have good authority he was just going to give the foul before the linesman decided he wanted his name in the paper. He was the only one in Firhill who saw any kind of stamp and yet again another display of ineptness from the officials.

That said, how the ref didn't see the blatant tug on Harkins from McCulloch in the box just after McCulloch had been booked beggars belief.

A good deserved win by Ross County and I've seen enough of them now to believe that they'll stay up this season.

Better make that two because it certainly looked like a stamp to me. As soon as the linesman put up his flag I knew Robbo was for the offsky.

It was a stamp, mate. I was 6 or 7 rows from the front right in front of the incident, and saw it clear as day. Craig pulled on Robbo's leg when they were tangled up, and Robbo just straight up stamped on him. The officials were awful over the course of the game, but the linesman got that one right.

Totally agree about the shirt pull on Harkins, though. Couldn't believe that one; the ref was right next to it.

I see what you're saying, but I just think the linesman was a little over zealous. Craig didn't react and he never alluded to any stamp in his post match interview, according to a mate of mine and actually thinks Robertson was unlucky, so that tells its own story.

I was right at the front about row 3 right at the incident too. I saw something similar. What I saw was Craig hacking away at Robertson about 2 or 3 times, then when he couldn't get Robertson properly he basically took a lunge that any other ref would have booked him for. Robbo stepped over him, Craig grabbed his leg and pulled it. That is what made it look like a stamp, Craig grabbing his leg and pulling Robertson back.

The ref was close enought to give the foul against Craig and must have seen the incident. The ref saw no stamp, gave a foul and probably most tellingly neither Craig, nor any Ross County player made any protest whatsoever to the ref, everyone got up and got on with the game.

Enter the linesman..... who was further away from the incident than the ref (and further from it than me). I actually thought the linesman was advising the ref to have a word with Craig for his rugby tackle on Robertson.

The players' reaction say it all for me. The linesman got it wrong. Let's hope he just made a genuine error. Given some of his other decisions, I think the linesman is just simply incompetent, so I guess we accept it and move on.

Thought Ross County forced the tactics on us a bit, we didn't like the close attention and closing down, so well done there. I was expecting one of McCall's half time turnaround which would have helped make it a more entertaining game, but unfortunatley the red card put paid to that.

Anyway, a fluffed goal, controversy and a red card - no too bad a spectacle.

I dont think it was a stamp at all. What would you do if your trying to get on with play and a player grabs hold of one of your legs, first reaction, put other leg down. The fact that there was no agonizing pain reaction from the county player would suggest that he didnt stamp on him. The referee was closer to the incident than the linesman plus the county players body was covering the lower part of John Robertsons leg so i dont see how he could have clearly seen a stamp. Yes, he put his leg down to get his balance, but thats not a stamp. And why would John Robertson gesture to the referee that he was holding him and while the ref was giving the decision our way decide to stamp on the player???