Partick Thistle 1 Airdrie United 0: Better by half

Sunday 24 February 2013

WHEN Alan Archibald urged his Partick Thistle players to win ugly in their quest for silverware, this perhaps wasn't quite what he had in mind.

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By Chris Jack

The hosts made it back-to-back 1-0 wins at Firhill yesterday, victory over a dogged Airdrie United coming days after they saw off Hamilton Accies in similar fashion.

It took a moment of magic from Chris Erskine to clinch all three points for interim boss Archibald as his side kept up the pressure on Irn-Bru First Division leaders Morton. It wasn't always pretty, but it proved effective.

"When I said we had to win ugly, I didn't mean it had to happen all the time," Archibald joked. "It was a great three points. We were poor in the first half and we spoke about it at half-time. We lifted the tempo in the second half and created a number of chances when we went about our business properly."Airdrie had every reason to fear their third trip of the campaign to Firhill, having lost twice during a pre-season tournament and then finding themselves on the end of a 7-0 defeat to Thistle when the competitive business got under way. A repeat scoreline never looked on the cards, however.The visitors were certainly on the back foot, but Robbie Thomson, the young goalkeeper on loan from Celtic, was hardly under siege. Aaron Muirhead went close with a header and Ross Forbes curled a free kick just wide before away defender Grant Evans sliced a Stephen O'Donnell cross into the arms of his keeper.With Parkhead youth coaches Stevie Frail and John Kennedy looking on, Thomson again came to Airdrie's rescue before the break, acrobatically tipping an Erskine header over just moments after the forward fired wide following a jinking run.The half-time whistle gave the visitors' defence some temporary respite, but normal service was quickly resumed, Thomson denying Kris Doolan with his feet before Forbes put his lob wide of the onrushing keeper's left- hand post.Erskine was denied once more after a neat turn and snap shot inside the area, but when the talismanic forward tried his luck again, there was nothing Thomson could do about it, Erskine's superb volley from the edge of the area clipping the right hand post and crossing the line to finally end Airdrie's resistance. "I don't mind getting beaten to a goal like that," said Jimmy Boyle, the Airdrie manager. "I thought The boys worked really hard. It was a tough one to take."

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Partick Thistle 1 Airdrie United 0: Better by half

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