Partick 1-2 Dundee Utd: Neilson’s men make it two wins out of two

Peter Pawlett starts celebrating after scoring the winner for Dundee United against Partick Thistle. Picture: Bruce White/SNS

Manager Robbie Neilson was delighted with the way his players had responded against Partick after falling behind to Steven Saunders’ first-half header. “It’s been a while since we came from behind to win but we had the chances to have won by a bigger margin,” he said. “Everyone else will have watched that and now the pressure is on them.”

United started brightly and Sam Stanton’s angled drive forced a fine save from Jamie Sneddon in the second minute but that early promise soon evaporated.

Referee Willie Collum allowed a couple of over-robust challenges from the visitors to go unpunished before finally showing a yellow card to centre-back Mark Connolly, who had hauled back Alex Jones just inside the United half after the striker’s turn had left him for dead.

Thistle’s persistence paid off when they took the lead midway through the first half. Calum Butcher needlessly conceded a corner while attempting to shield the ball for a goal-kick, United failed to clear their lines and Cammy Palmer took it from there. His surging run to the byline took him past two opponents and his lofted cross to the far post found Saunders, who climbed highest to score with a downward header.

Benjamin Siegrist then dived low to his left to palm away a netbound effort from Jones as United struggled to find a way back into the contest. Lawrence Shankland, who had scored all of their goals in last weekend’s opening 4-1 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle, might as well have been watching from the stand for all he saw of the ball during the first half.

Fortunately for the sizeable travelling support, that state of affairs did not endure. He finally saw the whites of Sneddon’s eyes 11 minutes after the restart, courtesy of some slack defending from James Penrice.

The full-back had intended to put the ball out for a throw-in but underhit his clearance, allowing Paul McMullan to keep the ball in play and cross for Shankland, whose volley into the turf spun agonisingly away from the goalkeeper and inside his left-hand post.

Galvanised by that breakthrough, United swarmed around the Thistle area with a purpose which had previously been lacking and Shankland played a pivotal role in what proved to be the winner. Jamie Robson and Louis Appere combined to tee up the former Ayr striker and, although Sneddon got a hand to his shot, it looked certain to cross the line. Substitute Peter Pawlett, from a foot out, supplied the finishing touch to steal his first goal of the season.

“It’s not rocket science,” said Thistle manager Gary Caldwell. “If you don’t mark Shankland in the box then he’ll score.”