Partick Thistle 0 St. Johnstone 4

Last updated : 16 April 2005 By Footymad Previewer
A victory was vital for both sides as they battled to avoid relegation.

It was the visitors who took early control of the game, and after only six minutes Peter McDonald raced clear of a static Partick defence but his shot was easily saved by Kenny Arthur.

Thistle did not learn from this and four minutes later the Saints took the lead when again McDonald ran clear of their defence to chip the ball over the onrushing Arthur and high into the net.

Thistle's troubles deepened after 13 minutes when Saints doubled their lead. The Thistle defence were unable to clear their lines and the ball fell kindly to Stephen Dobbie, who made not mistake with a powerful shot from 18 yards.

At this point Thistle were unable to make any clear chances and their first real effort came after a full 42 minutes when Adrian Madaschi's back-flick was met by Stephen McConalogue, whose back-post header appeared to be cleared off the line by a Saints' hand but the referee waved away their appeals for a penalty.

On the stroke of half time MacDonald doubled his personal tally when he connected with Ryan McCann's cross to give Arthur no chance from eight yards.

Thistle did apply more pressure in the second half but the closest they came was after 50 minutes when Billy Gibson's six-yard header rebounded against the base of the Saints' post and was cleared.

It came as no surprise when St Johnstone completed their rout after 84 minutes when McDonald completed his well-deserved hat-trick with a 10-yard shot following Chris Hay cross.

With other results going in Thistle's favour they are not mathematically relegated yet, but they will need to produce much better in the three games they have left if they have any chance of avoiding the drop.