Partick Thistle 2
Ayr United 2
League (Second Division)

Match Report

Furious Jags gaffer Dick Campbell believes his Firhill flops should have been sweating buckets instead of sipping pints on Saturday night. The Thistle boss was left fuming after his Maryhill misfits blew a two-goal lead against Ayr to allow Peterhead to leapfrog them into third place in Division Two. Campbell said yesterday: “We trained today but if I'd had my way the players would have been back in on Saturday night. I was disgusted with the lack of professionalism shown when the game was there to be won. Once we went 2-0 up we stopped playing, we stopped closing down and we stopped matching runs. In the end we were fortunate to get a draw. But the final result still leaves Ayr feeling a damn site happier than us.”

Mark Roberts put the home side in front in 18 minutes when he latched on to a Jimmy Gibson through ball to beat Mark McGeown from close range. The Jags' top scorer almost grabbed a second before the interval but the visitors' keeper brilliantly saved his volley. Billy Gibson looked to have ended Partick's six-match winless run three minutes after the restart when he lashed home a 30-yard drive. But Chris Robertson pulled one back for Ayr in 55 minutes after fine link-up play involving Kieran McAnespie and Raymond Logan. Robertson thought he had completed his double 15 minutes later but Jerome Vareille added a final touch to his team-mate's goalbound header and he was adjudged to have been offside. However, Ayr were not to be denied a share of the spoils and Craig Conway completed their fightback in 77 minutes when he curled a 20-yard shot past Kenny Arthur after a fine solo run.

Ayr gaffer Robert Connor was delighted with his team's second-half showing. He said: “The players showed great character to come back and get a point. But I am actually slightly disappointed that we didn't get all three. Towards the end of the game only one team looked like winning.”

And one of United's young heroes, Chris Strain, believes his team-mates can take great heart from their Firhill fightback as they gear up for an end-of-season relegation dogfight. He said: “We can build on this performance and get the points we need in the remaining fixtures to stay up.”

Match report written by Daily Record