There were many changes to the Saints lineup, with Kevin McGowne, Brian McGinty and Hugh Murray all starting. Ricky Gillies, Mark Dempsie and Mixu Paatelainen were the ones who dropped out of the starting lineup, whilst John Baird made it as far as the bench for the first time in a few weeks.
Saints should have been cruising it at half time. Stewart Kean had a free header inside the first few minutes but could only put it over, whilst midway through the half he ded Brian McGinty brilliantly only for McGinty to hit the siede netting. It was a great chance, coming from a Thistle corner, and McGinty really should have scored. Strangley, I was convinced beforehand he would miss!
There was one more chance before the inevitable in the first half, McGinty and Kean linking up well only for Arthur to push Kean's shot behind for a corner.
What's the inevitable? Well, what usually happen's when Saints are on top? Correct, we concede. Thistle broke, Andy Gibson played in from the right Armond One the Dummy dummied the ball and Derek Fleming fired into the bottom corner with Thistle's first attack of the match. That's Derek Fleming who has suffered a broken leg and a missed penalty in his last two visits to Love Street. David van Zanten could have equalised before the break but fired wide.
For once, we didn't deserve this. We had controlled the first half and actually created chances. Strangely, we didn't create much in the second half but scored!
The goal came shortly after Andy Millen's comical slide into a puddle. Simon Lappin's free kick caused chaos, and Partick's Jean Yves Anis decided to put the ball into his own net, which was nice. Kirk Broadfoot tried to claim it, but it was an own goal.
Not much happened in the rest of the game. Shots went high and wide or were tame, and attacks were broken down. Not even the substitutions could change things.
A draw was fair, as both teams hd spells in control and a few chances to score. Saints created more, but if we don't take them we ain't going to win.
The point stops the rot, hopefully we can now go on from this and get back to winning ways very soon.