Dominant Thistle put four past Dundee United for first win since October
Partick Thistle proved too strong for bottom side Dundee United, cruising to their first victory since October thanks to goals from four different players. Rachel Donaldson opened the scoring with a well timed volley to put away Imogen Longcake’s cross on the ten minute mark. Having held out for almost half an hour, Suzy Shepherd will no doubt be disappointed to have seen her side concede just before the break with Megan Burns guilty of putting Caley Gibb’s driven ball across the face of goal into her own net. Keeper Beth Rennie was at fault as her goal kick lacked distance, landing at the feet of Longcake who drove forward before tucking away a tidy finish past the keeper. Putting the game to bed with Thistle’s fourth was Tiree Burchill who raced onto Carla Boyce’s through ball and made no mistake to slot the ball home. With minutes to go, Dundee United pulled a goal back to deny Jenna Currie a clean sheet after Amy Taylor ghosted into the box to meet Alix Moodie’s cross. In truth the margin could have been far greater had it not been for some excellent saves from Rennie and the crossbar. Searching desperately for a goal to add to her assist Longcake was unfortunate as her thundered effort rattled the crossbar minutes into the second half. Thistle were often guilty of making life too easy for Rennie, Georgia Gray unable to cap off an impressive outing, fired an effort straight into the keeper’s arms. However the United keeper was on hand to deny Burchill one on one with a terrific save before smothering the rebound from Longcake. Just a few minutes later Gibb had what looked like a certain goal by Rennie’s stop from point blank range. Thistle were able to see out the victory from there and the result means they remain five points behind Motherwell in sixth, albeit with a game in hand. Dundee United meanwhile, remain rooted at the foot of the table having won just one game this season. Line-ups: Thistle: Currie, Gibb, McCulloch, Falconer (c), Gray, Bulloch (Craig 74), Donaldson (King 66), Sinclair (English 66), Burchill (Hay 82), Longcake (Robinson 82), Boyce Unused subs: Fears (gk), Cowan, Docherty, Slater Booked: Goals: Donaldson (10), Burns (41 o.g.), Longcake (49), Burchill (70) Dundee United: Rennie, Taylor, Burns, Hutchinson, Frew (c), Robertson, Martindale, Moodie, Logan (K. McFarlane 79), Brien, Steedman (H. McFarlane 91) Unused subs: Mowatt (c), Creamer, L. Steedman Booked: Frew, Martindale, Brien Goals: Referee: Kieran O’Reilly
Hearts survive scare to scrape past Kilmarnock
Two goals in quick succession saw Hearts pull away from Kilmarnock to take all three points at Tynecastle. Hearts raced into an early lead thanks to some excellent work from the young James Wilson to tee up Elton Kabangu. Continuing his fine breakthrough season, Bobby Wales equalised with a fine strike from Marley Watkins’ low cross. However Kilmarnock could not sustain the intensity and soon found themselves two goals behind. First from Jamie McCart’s header with his first goal for the club before a Kieran O’Hara blunder allowed Jorge Grant to score just a few minutes later. Fraser Murray pulled one back for the visitors but it proved little more than a consolation. Despite his work for the first, Wilson will be frustrated not to have done better with the effort he blasted over the bar. Kilmarnock could have equalised sooner but for Craig Gordon’s reflexes to deny Wales, whose header met an excellent Corrie Ndaba cross. Wilson came close once again after James Penrice’s cutback teed him up but his shot kept out by the flying Robbie Deas to keep the score down to one. As the home side intensified the pressure, Kilmarnock were at times fortunate to not concede another. Blair Spitall’s curling free kick just missing the goal. Defeat means Kilmarnock find themselves in the uncomfortable relegation play-off spot with Hearts propelling themselves up to ninth, just three points off rivals Hibernian in sixth. Line-ups: Hearts: Gordon (c), Penrice, McCart, Halkett (Neilson 11), Forrester, Spittal (Dhanda 69), Devlin, Baningime, Grant (Drammeh 69), Wilson (Shankland 69), Kabangu (Boateng 92) Unused subs: Clark, Forrest, Taylor, Vargas Booked: Grant, Boateng Goals: Kabangu (7), McCart (58), Grant (61) Kilmarnock: O’Hara, Deas (Anderson 87), Wright (c), Mayo, Ndaba, Murray, Magennis (Watson 68), Polworth (Donnelly 68), Ramsay (Armstrong 46), Watkins, Wales Unused subs: Armstrong, Branna, Brown, Mackay-Steven, Brown Booked: Deas, Magennis, Watkins, Armstrong, Watson Goals: Wales (50), Murray (67) Attendance: 18, 677 Referee: John Beaton
Quickfire double sees St Johnstone beat Motherwell again to arrest slump
St Johnstone completed their second victory in a row over Motherwell following last week’s Scottish Cup win as the visitors shot themselves in the foot, conceding two late goals to leave Perth empty handed. Motherwell have Andy Halliday’s composure to thank for the opener, his penalty after a handball in the box giving the visitors a deserved lead just a few minutes into the action. Yet with less than five left to play Taylor Steven used his poaching instincts to profit from disarray at a set piece and level the score for St Johnstone. Completing their nightmare collapse, Motherwell were floored when a couple of minutes later as Bozo Mikulic reacted quickest following a corner to fire home the winner for the home side. After conceding the early goal, Simo Valakari’s men began to grow into the game, January signing Victor Griffith denied by an outstretched Ellery Balcombe, making his first start since his arrival on loan from Brentford. With a somewhat optimistic effort, Tony Watt fired a shot from range but saw the ball fly comfortably into the palms of Andy Fisher. Halliday came close to a second but his deflected effort came dipped too late and landed on the roof of Fisher’s goal. His opposite number Ballcombe was soon called back into action with a fantastic save to keep Graham Carey from equalising in the second half. St Johnstone continued to apply the pressure with Nicky Clark coming agonisingly close, his shot however lacking the required accuracy and travelling just wide. Coming closer with each attempt, Makenzie Kirk’s header forced the Motherwell keeper into yet another series of saves, doing well to keep out Adama Sidibeh on the rebound. The result sees St Johnstone narrow the gap on 11th placed Kilmarnock to seven points whilst Motherwell remain fifth albeit having won just one in their last five. Line-ups: St Johnstone: Fisher, Mikulic, Sprangler (c), Wright, Douglas (Steven 80), Holt (Clark 65), Kucheriavyi (Sidibeh 46), Curtis, Griffith, Carey, Kirk (Franczak 96) Unused subs: Essel, Kimpioka, Raymond, Smith Booked: Kucheriavyi Goals: Steven (86), Mikulic (88) Motherwell: Balcombe, Blaney, Gordon, O’Donnell (c), Kaleta (Koutroumbis 78), Paton (Andrews 78), Halliday (Zdravkovski 67), Sparrow (Thompson 60), Nicholson (Armstrong 67), Maswanhise, Watt Unused subs: Balmer, Casey, Connelly, Koutroumbis, Wilson Booked: Sparrow, Thompson, Paton, Armstrong Goals: Halliday (4 pen) Attendance: 3,892 Referee: Kevin Clancy