Alan Archibald's side now face a nervy trip to Dens Park on Saturday with their top-flight status hanging in the balance
THE season goes down to the wire.
The fingernails go down to the knuckle.
And 37 painful games in, the Firhill faithful still don’t have a close whether their heroes will stay up.
Two points clear of bottom dogs Ross County they might still be. But a goal difference nine worse off means they can’t afford to do Dens Park on Saturday and play for a draw.
Last night, nine-tenths of a 3320 crowd bayed for the blood of ref Bobby Madden and linesman Mark MacLean and they spat accusations of cheating at every visiting player who hit the deck.
The longer it went, first goal-less and then with their team a crucial goal behind, the more nerves turned to naked fury, punters doing what punters do by lashing out in every direction - except the one with the big target on it.
Namely the fact that their team can’t score enough goals and lose too many at crucial times. It’s not rocket science. It’s how the league works.
Yes, there’s a fair argument that MacLean was hasty in putting his flag up when Well right-winger Chris Cadden hit the deck pretty easily under Baily Cargill’s challenge right on the hour mark. For me, it could just as easily have not been given as a foul.
PARTICK THISTLE: Cerny 5, McGinn 6, Cargill 6, Devine 6, Elliott 6, Woods 6, Barton 5 (Spittal 3), Edwards 6, Erskine 6 (Lawless 3), Doolan 6 (Storey 3), Sammon 6.
MOTHERWELL: Carson 7, Kipre 7, Aldred 7, Dunne 7, Hendrie 5 (Bigirmana 5), Cadden 6, Campbell 7, McHugh 6, Turnbull 7 (Ciftci 3), Bowman 7, Main 6 (Frear 4).
REFEREE: Bobby Madden, 5 – poor decision-making all night.
Once it was, though, whether the officials got it right or wrong, they weren’t the ones who didn’t pick up Ryan Bowman when David Turnbull’s pinpoint delivery simply begged to be nodded home.
Keeper Tomas Cerny made a beeline for the touchline, screaming at the assistant. You could understand why he was so angry at such a devastating moment, too; but the truth is that he really should have been giving it tight to his defenders, because their job remains the same whether it’s a foul or not.
This is the mindset that separates the winners from the strugglers, this idea that nothing’s going your way, rather than working harder to MAKE it go your way.
It’s the reason, like it or not, why Thistle travel to Tayside with their futures still balance on a knife-edge.
Even a point might not be enough now, because a County win away at St Johnstone would put THEM into a play-off and consign the Jags to the Championship.
Fact is, they didn’t create enough chances here – and when they did, like when skipper Kris Doolan dinked a gorgeous first half cross straight to Ryan Edwards, it was wasted. They simply never looked likely to get the result that would at least have made sure they couldn’t go down automatically.
The boos that rang out here as the clock ticked down, as substitution after substitution failed to make a difference and as half-chances came and went like a mother-in-law’s smile told their own story.
The punters fear the worst. All the optimism of this time last year, when Alan Archibald had led them to the promised land of the Top Six has long since evaporated, replaced by a growing, gnawing desperation.
That feeling, the worst in football by a mile, reached its height the tannoy guy announced five minutes of added time at the end of the 90.
Five more minutes to get up there and hurl the kitchen sink at the Motherwell posts, one last cavalry charge to rescue the entire campaign.
A cross into the box. Sub Miles Storey’s free on the penalty spot. They rise as one as he steadies himself to meet the ball.
The header falls right into keeper Trevor Carson’s lap and they all sit down again, deflated as last night’s party balloons.
Still, one more charge. Seven, eight yellow and red bodies in the box. Cargill with time and space to cross from 35 yards out.
It loops up and over everyone and into Carson’s arms once more.
Cargill turns his back and shakes his head. That says it all.
As ref Madden blows to end the agony, the 400-odd away fans rise and hail a team who’d worked their tails off to repair some of the damage done by Saturday’s 5-1 home pounding by St Johnstone.
The Jags lot, meanwhile, were all over the ref and the away team like a rash. It was all still someone else’s fault.
Sometimes, it’s simply easier that way.
