Last weekend, Partick Thistle’s complaints centred on officialdom but this week they had no-one to blame but themselves as they fell flat in a dispiriting defeat to East Fife in the Irn-Bru Cup.
Kris Doolan’s ‘ghost goal’ in the victory over Morton grabbed the attention last time out but this time the unwanted limelight was directed at manager Alan Archibald, as the Jags threw away a half-time lead to exit the tournament amidst a cacophony of boos.
They were fully in control following the opener from Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo midway through the first-half, but the game was turned on its head after the break. Scott Agnew’s equaliser sent belief coursing through the home team, who won it with a wonderful strike from on-loan Hearts striker Roy Currie 16 minutes from time.
“I thought when we lifted the tempo in the first-half they struggled to cope with us at times, but only when we lifted the tempo,” said Thistle manager Alan Archibald. “In the second-half, we asked the players to keep it tight at the back and lift the tempo - and they did the complete opposite. We invited pressure on ourselves and East Fife deservedly got their win.
“We got into the habit of moving the ball slower and slower, and we were a wee bit negative in our play. We should have had a better reaction when they equalised, and we didn’t get that.
“The fans have paid their money and they want to win every game, like us. We want to try to win a tournament and we’re absolutely disappointed with that. I’ll take some of the blame; we made a number of changes and it didn’t quite work. Especially in the second-half, we looked as if there was no fluency."
Doolan, robbed of his first goal of the season by a bizarre refereeing decision last weekend, created the breakthrough for Thistle when his cute flick on from Tam Scobbie’s long ball allowed Mutombo to scamper in on goal and finish with the aid of a deflection past Brett Long.
However, Agnew curled in the leveller in the 51st minute after a lay-off inside the box from Anton Dowds and, with Thistle unable to respond, Currie drilled a magnificent winner in from the edge of the box after being fed by fellow substitute Kevin Smith.
“I know from when I was a player, when you play against the bigger and better teams there’s always that wee bit of added extra,” said East Fife manager Darren Young. “And Rory fired in a great strike to win the game for us.”
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