Lazy copy and paste from P & B.
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Great post from SLJ. Can't really argue with any of that.
Partick definitely had the better of the first half. We struggled to get to grips with Erskine, Taylor and Higginbotham who all found space in behind our defence on a number of ocasions. Only some good goalkeeping from Brill kept us in it. We had actually started the game the better of the two sides but after about five minutes Partick dominated. Our best chance fell to Draper but his tame pass / shot was easily gathered by Gallacher. Partick had great chances for Taylor when he cut inside and left Warren on the floor before smashing it straight at Brill. He also forced Brill into a great save from a free kick and was denied a third time when Brill again was equal to another effort after he again cut in from the left. Tansey had a good chance when he hit a quick half volley but he pulled it wide.
Up until this point we had been playing 4-1-4-1 with Foran appearing to be playing as the slightly deeper midfielder. At half time Hughes, thankfully, moved us back to the old 4-2-3-1 which saw Tansey move further up field and support Mckay who was an incredibly isolated player in the first half. At one point when he had the ball about 35 yards from the Partick goal there were no other ICT players in the same half as him.
The formation chance quickly paid dividends as Tansey started to link well with Mckay and Williams was able to offer more width than he had done in the first half and although Vincent continued on the left side and was always cutting in Shinnnie got forward in support of the attack much more effectively than he had done previously.
A neat one two between Mckay and Tansey played in the midfielder who lifted the ball over the onrushing Gallacher but sadly it landed on the roof of the net despite Mckay being convinced that it was going in. Soon after Mckay had his best chance of the game as some patient, probing passing eventually played in Mckay who found himself in behind the Partick defence but he sliced his shot well wide of goal with just Gallacher to beat. However Mckay finally grabbed our first goal in 19 years of football when a lofted free kick from Shinnie found Draper at the back post and he nodded the ball back across goal to Mckay who bundled the ball home.
Partick were much reduced as an attacking force in the second half. I can't recall any real chances for them although Taylor was denied a goal again this time by the assistants flag as he had strayed offside. Despite the away side being somewhat more toothless it was stil a nervy end to the game for ICT.
Hopefully now Hughes will persist with the more settled 4-2-3-1 style that the team are so used to. If he is desperate to change the style we play then I hope that he waits until the end of the season because the team just doesn't seem ready for it just now. It's really disrupted us recently and could, come the seasons end, be looked upon as a major reason for missing out on the League Cup and / or a place in Europe.