Partick Thistle hadn’t won in their last 16 away games. St Johnstone hadn’t triumphed in their previous seven home games. Something looked sure to give. And to the Firhill side’s great credit, they ended their poor record on their travels in some style against a rusty Saints team, who appear to in freefall.
Thistle moved to within three points of the Perth side thanks to an excellent display which yielded three goals through Steven Lawless, Conor Sammon and sub Ryan Edwards for their first away win in the league for ten months.
But it’s worrying times indeed for the McDiarmid Park side who run the serious risk of getting sucked into a relegation dogfight on this evidence. Certainly, home manager Tommy Wright was far from amused and vowed to make wholescale changes, with a potential banana skin Scottish Cup tie at Albion Rovers upcoming tomorrow.
He said: “I think when people don’t learn from mistakes then I have to sort it out. It is my responsibility and there is a few in there who will not be involved on Monday. I have had enough of people starting games and being up for it beforehand in the dressing room and not producing. We can’t go 15 minutes at home without conceding a goal. I have maybe been too loyal to too many for too long. It is not an excuse or a factor to say we were caught cold because we hadn’t played this year. I think it is time for me to take the gloves off and I am not scared to make changes and that will happen.
“I did not go in at full-time and it is the first time that I have not gone into see the players after a match. We do need help and we need players in and we are leaving it right until the last minute to bring them in with four days left.”
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Thistle took a 13th minute lead when Miles Storey motored past Keith Watson on the left flank to dart into the box and play a perfect cutback for Lawless, who fired high into the net from ten yards.
St Johnstone looked like a team that hadn’t played since December 30 and the Jags doubled their advantage in the 64th minute when Lawless thrust forward and combined with Edwards
and the Australian cut the ball back for Sammon to stab in his fifth goal in four games.
Saints were given a lifeline in the 74th minute when Jags keeper Tomas Cerny raced from his goal to try and get to a long ball from Liam Craig, but he cleaned out sub David McMillan. Craig converted the spot kick.
And with St Johnstone pushing for an undeserved leveller, Thistle sealed it in injury time when Edwards sprinted 60 yards after beating Chris Millar inside his own half to gallop forward and tuck the ball away.
Thistle manager Alan Archibald said: “We talked about St Johnstone not having a game for a while and trying to catch them on the back foot, so I think we did that. It was a deserved win.
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“Winning away from home is significant for us too, we have been asked about it for a long time now. “To get safe we need to win points on the road and we will need to be winning more of them.”
Star man: Steven Lawless (Partick Thistle)