Partick 2-0 Caley: Jags rise above mediocrity

Last season it took Partick Thistle until October to claim their first victory in any competition, but this result yesterday means that they now have a 100 per cent record in all competitions.

Inverness winger Billy King shields the ball from Partick defender Ziggy Gordon. Pic: SNS

It was quite disturbing that the first half-hour of the opening match of the Premiership campaign resembled end-of-season fare.

Misplaced passes and hit-and-hope long balls were the order of the day until the hosts finally lifted the game out of its torpor with a superb opening goal.

Full-back Callum Booth was the architect with a surging run down the left flank before supplying Steven Lawless. The little winger was the most enterprising player on view and he released the ball at just the right time to feed Chris Erskine and the midfielder’s sumptuous strike from 16 yards found its way inside Owain Fon Williams’ right-hand post.

Partick were the better side after that and David Amoo secured the outcome on the hour when he forced the ball home from a few yards out after Liam Lindsay’s netbound header had been blocked.

It was no more than the home side deserved and manager Alan Archibald was satisfied with the performance.

“We looked nervy in the first 20 minutes – it looked like our first game of the season as if we hadn’t played a League Cup tie,” he said. “Chris’ goal really settled us down. I thought it was a cagey affair up to that point, a lot of misplaced passes, but it was a good but of play and a great finish by Chris.”

His Inverness counterpart, Richie Foran, was less pleased and considerably more perplexed. His team had scored a dozen goals in beating Arbroath and Dunfermline in their previous two outings but they rarely troubled goalkeeper Tomas Cerny here.

“It was probably a fair result,” he conceded. “I don’t know if they were two goals better than us, but maybe one. We weren’t enough of a goal threat – all-in-all we weren’t at the races.

“The players know that and I know that, but we can’t get too downhearted. We don’t become a poor team overnight, so hopefully we can push on and get a win on Tuesday night.

“Alan Archibald did his homework on us and our wide men – he was doubling up on them and it was causing them not to get crosses in – but we’ve got to have better imagination.”