A second half "hat-trick" by Thistle's Alex Burns, saw
off a poor Killie side, which saw a first start for Craig Dargo since Aug,
and a the return of Andy McLaren also!
After a goalless first half at
Firhill Burns finally broke the deadlock with a 64th minute strike. And the
striker wrapped up all three points for the home side with just over 10
minutes to go with his second goal of the game. He completed his hat-trick
in the 87th minute.
It was Thistle's first win
over the Ayrshire side for eight years and lifted John
Lambie's men away from the relegation area.
Kilmarnock started brightly
and Gary McSwegan fired in the first shot of the game. But his long-distance
effort from the right flew across goal and harmlessly wide.
Then Andy McLaren tried to
find Craig Dargo in the box but Kenny Arthur came off his line to gather. At
the other end Burns picked up a loose clearance just outside the box to fire
in a fierce volley that Gordon Marshall did well to hold on to. Greg Shields
launched a swift counter attack for Killie that saw Dargo lift the ball over
Arthur as he sprinted into the box.
But the ball landed on top of
the crossbar and bounced back into play, with Scott Paterson reacting the
quickest to put the ball out for a corner.
(Photo
from SNS & used with permission)
Thistle were looking lively
although the visitors had come the closest to opening the scoring. Dargo
latched on to a ball to feet at the Partick near post but Stephen Craigan
had tracked back and deflected the ball behind for a corner. The ball went
straight into the net from the corner but the whistle went for pushing and
shoving in the box.
Thistle replied with a
blistering long-ranger from Alan Archibald which just cleared the crossbar.
The game hit a lull in the final 10 minutes of the first half and needed a
spark to lift it.
Thistle almost provided it
with a trio of headed flick-ons from Craigan's throw, with first David
Lilley, then Gerry Britton and finally Mitchell getting touches to divert
the ball goalward.
But the final touch was
Marshall's and his was a comfortable catch. Arthur was soon called into
action at the other end, getting behind a McSwegan 25-yarder.
At the start of the second
half McLaren fired over after Burns had given away possession and three
Thistle men had failed to dispossess him. Burns did the same at the other
end after Derek Whyte had nodded the ball back for him to let fly on the
edge of the area.
(Photo
from SNS & used with permission)
Then the impressive McLaren
retrieved a loose ball on the left edge o the box and cut inside to force
Arthur into a save at his near post. But on 64 minutes Burns outpaced two
Killie defenders chasing a ball through the middle to fire past Marshall.
It was a fourth goal of the
season from a player who had been rated as only 50-50 to take part in the
game.
His 79th-minute clincher was even
more memorable and was one that Marshall will want to forget. Burns received
the ball on the right wing and looked up to see the goalkeeper invitingly
off his line and unable to prevent his lob from sailing into the net.
There was still time for Burns to
claim the match ball and he did it in style by lofting the ball over
Marshall again, this time from inside the box, and watching it bounce into
the net as a defender desperately tried in vain to stop it.
Kilmarnock: Marshall,
Fowler (Boyd 72), Dillon, Shields, Dindeleux, Fulton, Mahood, Canero,
McSwegan, Dargo, <McLaren (Di Giacomo 81).
Subs Not Used: Meldrum, Locke,
Hay.
Att: 5,055
