Partick Thistle 3-0 Hamilton

Jan 20 2008 Alan Mcmillan At Firhill

JAGS star Kevin McKinlay was the thorn in Accies' side as his double salvo stunned the league leaders.

Hamilton had crashed in five goals without reply in their two previous meetings with the Firhill men but were outplayed by a fired up Partick.

The surface, churned up by the previous night's rugby match, between Firhill tenants Glasgow Warriors and Saracens, was not ideal to good football.

Even so, a misplaced divot or two didn't bother Ian McCall's side as Thistle put on an impressive show.

McKinlay claimed this display was a long time in coming for Thistle and reckons the Jags can set their sights on climbing the table.

He said: "If we can do that to the league leaders we should be mounting more of a challenge for the title.

"There were too many games in which we missed chances and ended up drawing when we should have won.

"But we've just got to try to keep reproducing this kind of form and see how high we can finish. I'd like to think we can still make the top three."

Accies came close to scoring in eight minutes when Thistle failed to clear David Graham's cross but Richard Offiong blazed his drive over the bar.

Thistle hit back with a Mark Roberts' shot deflected inches wide after good play on the right by Scott Chaplain and Liam Buchanan.

Gary Harkins wanted a penalty when he went down in a tussle with David Elebert in the Hamilton box, but referee Iain Brines was not interested.

Partick took the lead in 23 minutes when Accies failed to cope with a high ball leaving McKinlay free to smash a right-foot shot past Bryn Halliwell.

Liam Buchanan should have doubled their lead four minutes later when he scuffed his shot straight at Halliwell.

But the second did arrive from McKinlay in 34 minutes when he headed in Buchanan's pinpoint cross.

Accies almost went 3-0 down before the break when Gary Harkins hit the woodwork with a curling shot.

McKinlay was a hero for Thistle in his own penalty box at the start of the second half when he cleared off the line after keeper Jonny Tuffey had failed to gather Tom Parratt's corner.

But Partick grabbed a third from the spot in 55 minutes when Buchanan fired in after Hamilton's Mark McLaughlin had brought down Harkins.

Tuffey had a fine save from Elebert as Accies threw everything into their efforts to salvage something from the game. But Thistle were every bit as dangerous and defender Alan Archibald was unlucky to see a shot come back off the bar.

Accies boss Billy Reid had no excuses for his beaten side.

He said: "Thistle were up for it more than us and that's unacceptable for this club. I'm not going to use the state of the pitch as an excuse as even had it been perfect it wouldn't have changed the final result.

"We didn't even make chances - it was just a poor day all round.

"But we're still two points clear at the top and I'm staying positive."

Thistle gaffer McCall was more upbeat and felt the final score did not do his men justice.

He said: "If it had been 5-0 or 6-0 it wouldn't have flattered us such was our performance.

MoM: McKinlay (Partick)