Partick Thistle 2 - 1 Alloa: Victory over relegation rivals gives Jags hope

Thistle moved off the bottom of the table after an excellent second-half comeback dragged Alloa firmly back into the relegation dogfight.

Partick's Joe Cardle celebrates with teammates. Pic: SNS/Sammy Turner

The Jags made a bright start in beautiful sunshine as Andy Graham made a vital interception to prevent Kris Doolan nodding home the opener after two minutes.

Alloa grew into the game and threatened from corners before Craig Slater stung the hands of Neil Parry with a rasping drive from 25 yards out. Thistle were struggling to deal with the visitors’ aerial threat and paid the price when a corner broke perfectly to Jack Aitchison who curled expertly beyond Jamie Sneddon to score his first goal for the club.

The Jags have a game in hand, away to Ayr United on Tuesday, but their fate looked bleak as Alloa comfortably kept them at arm’s length. Thistle’s first golden opportunity arrived on 38 minutes when Scott McDonald flicked a delicate pass through to Doolan who failed to beat Parry.

Gary Caldwell made a double change at the interval and it immediately paid dividends as substitute Joe Cardle gathered a pass on the edge of the area and fired a low drive across Parry into the bottom corner.

McDonald has been exceptional since coming out of retirement and he stepped up once again to save the day with the winner, the Australian brilliantly curling a free-kick into the top corner.