Alloa Athletic 1 Partick Thistle 6

Last updated : 01 October 2005 By Footymad Previewer

Thistle boss Dick Campbell was delighted with his team's performance after their resounding 6-1 defeat of Alloa. Thistle from the start were the strongest side and in the opening minutes gave notice to the Alloa defence that they were here on serious business.

Thistle's pressure paid off in the 24th minute when Graham Dorrans opened their account when he connected with a Mark Roberts cross, and from 16 yards out fired an unstoppable angled shot past Gary McGlynn.

Alloa fans and players appealed for a penalty when Grant Murray appeared to handle the ball inside the box, but the referee, who was 20 yards away, waved away their claims and this encouraged Thistle to keep up their attack.

In the 31st minute Scott McCulloch, from an acute angle 35 yards from goal, fired a speculative shot across the face of the goal and the bounce of the ball beat McGlynn and trundled into the net. Alloa tried to get back into the match, but were prevented by a strong Thistle defence.

Two minutes into the second half, Alloa were given a lifeline when Robert Sloan latched on to a Jose Quitongo cross and side-footed the ball from 12 yards past Colin Stewart. Alloa's hopes of a revival were dashed in the 58th minute when James Gibson extended Partick's lead when he ran on to an inch-perfect Mark Roberts cross and from 16 yards shot past McGlynn.

Thistle were in total control of the match, and this was shown with three goals in the space of four minutes.

After 75 minutes Jukka Santala scored from six yards when he knocked in a rebound from a Stephen McConalogue shot which had been saved by McGlynn.

One minute later he connected with a cross from the left and scored again from close range. The rout finally came to an end in the 79th minute when Billy Gibson rose unchallenged above a static Alloa defence and headed perfectly home from a Richard Gillies corner.