There was yet more away day misery for Arbroath as Partick Thistle showed their class in a comfortable win at Firhill.
Two first half goals from Ben Stanway were added to in the second half by a Tony Watt goal to secure a 3-0 win for the Glasgow side, as Arbroath dropped to seventh in the Championship.
Colin Hamilton and David Gold made two changes to the side that defeated Queen’s Park last Friday night, with Scott Stewart and Rudi Molotnikov joining the ever-growing injury list to be replaced by Tom Beadling and Michael McKenna, while Gavin Reilly returned for a place on the bench.
The Lichties were on the attack from the off and had the game’s first effort after less than 30 seconds, with Scott Constable dragging a strike wide of the far post.
Thistle came straight back with an attack of their own however, earning a corner which Lee Ashcroft rose well to win before seeing his effort cleared off the line.
It was certainly an energetic start to the game and came as no surprise when the deadlock was broken after just seven minutes. Beadling’s clearance fell to Seb Drozd who played in Stanway, with the midfielder afforded far too much time to control the ball and fire past Aidan McAdams.
While the hosts were the team controlling possession, Arbroath still posed a threat and came close to an equaliser when McKenna’s effort from distance came crashing off the post before hitting Lewis Budinauckas and bouncing to safety.
That threat didn’t last long though, with the Jags breaking through to score a second almost immediately. The ball once more fell to Drozd who again teed up Stanway for another powerful drive which flew past McAdams.
Ben Dempsey was the next home player to try his luck as Thistle looked to kill the game off before half time. His well struck shot was blocked by McAdams after a nice lay off from Alex Samuel.
The Lichties keeper had to be alert to deny Dempsey again soon after, before producing another solid save low to his right to deny Stanway his hat-trick.
Things began in much the same fashion after the break, albeit with Thistle restricted to efforts from distance, before Ryan Dow hit the target for Arbroath with a header that was easily held by Budinauckas following McKenna’s cross.
With 20 minutes remaining the hosts wrapped up the points with a low ball across goal coming off the foot of Tony Watt.
Jacob MacIntyre’s tame effort straight at the keeper pretty much summed up the afternoon for the Lichties, before they were let off the hook when Reid’s back was left short, with Aidan Fitzpatrick only able to drag his shot past the post.
Partick Thistle: Budinauckas; McPherson, Ashcroft, Loughrey, Reading; Dempsey (Crawford, 75’), Smyth; Drozd (Mackay-Steven, 75’), Stanway (Letsosa, 85’), Henderson (Fitzpatrick, 63’); Samuel (Watt, 63’)
Arbroath: McAdams; Watson, Dewar, Beadling, Mackie (Paterson, 76’); Constable, Flynn (McGill, 83’); MacIntyre, McKenna (Daly, 68’), Dow (Reid, 68’); Winter (Reilly, 68’)
Attendance: 4,066 (196 away)
