Partick Thistle 0-0 St Johnstone

Firhill failed to provide the usual customary thrills as Partick Thistle and St Johnstone fought out a 0-0 draw in wild conditions in Maryhill.The point apiece left both sides rooted in the bottom six of the Scottish Premiership, but overall neither manager should be too displeased with his return from what was an evenly matched contest.With both sides coming into this encounter in poor form and with the rain lashing down, it was no surprise that the players began the game in tentative fashion.Indeed, it took 15 minutes before the first meaningful chance of the match arrived - a nice move involving Stephen O'Donnell and Steven Lawless allowing the latter space to slip a nice ball through to James Craigen, who shot tamely at Alan Mannus in the St Johnstone goal.Thistle had a golden chance to open the scoring midway through the half, and again Lawless was the creator. He picked the ball up 20 yards from goal and danced through a series of tackles on the edge of the box before cutting the ball into the middle, where Kris Doolan was unmarked. Six yards from goal and with time to finish, the ball got stuck under the forward's feet and squirted out behind him. Craigen followed up, but his effort was brilliantly blocked away to safety by a last-gasp Steven Anderson lunge.The hosts had the visitors penned in now, and another great chance fell to Doolan after good work on the left this time by Craigen, the midfielder whipping in a great ball across the six-yard line that the striker just failed to connect with under pressure from Frazer Wright.St Johnstone had played some neat football without really being seen as an attacking force to this point, but they ought to have taken the lead moments after Doolan's miss.They broke through Murray Davidson, whose through ball beat the home defence rather too easily and sent Lee Croft through on goal. The winger drew the goalkeeper, but Scott Fox did well to spread himself and knock the ball wide.Suddenly, Thistle looked nervous, and, after giving the ball away cheaply on a couple of occasions, they conceded a soft corner which Croft whipped into the front post. Brian Graham met the ball with a free header but could only nod wide when it looked easier to score.Partick had been missing the creativity of the injured Kallum Higginbotham, but Christie Elliot was a willing runner down the left and he carved himself an opportunity right at the start of the second half, beating two defenders before shooting well over from the edge of the area.The same player had the ball in the net minutes later, curling a lovely effort into the top corner, but referee Calum Murray had already blown his whistle as the Partick midfielder was adjudged to have pulled a St Johnstone jersey to regain possession.Chances were becoming scarce as both sides looked more concerned about not losing the game, although James McFadden had a presentable opportunity after Wright had salvaged a long corner kick. He passed to his central defensive partner Anderson in alien territory on the right wing, and his clever pass found McFadden inside the area with time to get a shot away, but his curling left-footed effort was straight at Fox.Both sides huffed and puffed in the final 20 minutes, and, while their endeavour could not be faulted, neither group of players could summon the required guile to open up the opportunity that would have allowed them to claim the victory.St Johnstone did have a dangerous free-kick on the edge of the Thistle area in the final minute, but Simon Lappin's delivery was headed straight at Fox by Anderson and the sides had to settle for what was probably a fair result.ends