TANNADICE made for a fetching seasonal scene on a glorious afternoon on Tayside, its pitch and terraces bathed in autumnal oranges, reds and yellows.
Such a shame, then, that for much of this encounter both teams were decidedly off-colour.
Packed midfields and lone strikers do not a free-flowing game make and it took one late flash of red to decide the result. It came from the card hoisted high by referee Steven McLean after 84 minutes to signify the end of the match for Thistle captain Dan Seaborne. The match official had no choice in the matter as the central defender had breenged in from the back to bring down Nadir Ciftci as he raced on to a clearance from Sean Dillon and advanced on keeper Scott Fox.
After Seaborne headed down the tunnel, Ciftci sent Fox the wrong way from the penalty spot and secure for United three points they barely deserved.
Former Thistle boss Jackie McNamara had set up his team with Paul Paton in front of a four-man defence, hoping to give Paton's fellow ex-Jags player Chris Erskine and the pacy Suart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven freedom to race forward to link up with Ciftci.
However, time and again they ran into the dual barrier of Stuart Bannigan and Abdul Osman positioned in front of Partick's back line. Thistle's boss Alan Archibald, for his part, had sent his team out to smother United's flair players with two banks of four defenders and midfielders and, initially, only James Craigen given a free role to spring forward in support of Kris Doolan. For the first 20 minutes both teams battled each other while treating the ball as an unwelcome guest to be despatched as far away as possible at the earliest opportunity.
The only goal threat in that time came when United central defender Callum Morris was rash enough to attempt to pass to a team-mate. Paton was robbed by Craigen, giving Doolan the chance to charge forward and send in a curling shot which Radoslaw Cierzniak did well to parry for a corner.
Then, albeit for a brief period, a game of football broke out as the more composed players on the pitch began to find time on the ball. It took 21 minutes for the first passing move of note to result in Partick right-back Stephen O'Donnell powering in a cross that found its way to Christie Elliott at the back post but his low shot was smothered by the United keeper. Moments later a clever pass from Mackay-Steven set Ciftci clear in a crowded box but he shot wide. On 25 minutes another intervention from Mackay-Steven sent Armstrong advancing towards the Thistle penalty box but his shot arrowed wide of Fox's goal. Then O'Donnell's misplaced pass allowed Armstrong to return the favour and send Mackay-Steven in on goal, but the visiting keeper spread himself well to save.
After the break, United began to leave more players up the park but that only led to the visitors taking a stranglehold in midfield and allowed their full-backs O'Donnell and Jordan McMillan to power forward on the overlap.
Doolan had a snap shot saved by Cierzniak then the lone forward half-volleyed an Eliott cross towards the bottom corner, only for the home keeper to produce a fingertip save.
The visitors came close again when Elliott fired in a superb shot that clattered off the bar. McNamara rang the changes in a bid to force a winner, bringing on Ryan Dow, Aidan Connolly and Blair Spittal in place of Paton, Armstrong and Erskine. Yet the game looked like petering out until one last hurried clearance sent Ciftci through from a suspiciously off-side position to win the deciding penalty.
Partick manager Archibald certainly thought the linesman's flag should have been raised. "Ciftci was clearly two yards offside," he complained, adding that the "harsh" scoreline had robbed his team of a point.
United boss McNamara agreed that the result had been better than the performance for his side. He added: "It's the story of our season, though, getting points when not at our best. Last year we would have lost that game."
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