Match report: Partick Thistle 2-0 East Fife

Apart from a dominant spell of possession at the start of the second half, the Fifers found themselves largely second best.

One plus, though, was the performance of the men at the back who had to absorb a lot from Thistle, particularly from the wings.

Thistle were effective down the right with Ryan Williamson and Joe Cardle combining brilliantly all afternoon.

East Fife passed up an early chance when Kevin Smith was hauled down on the edge of the box.

Scott Agnew failed to trouble Kieran Wright with his free-kick, though.

From there the home side had by far the better of things and deserved their opener when it arrived.

Pat Slattery was judged to have brought down Connor Murray inside the box by ref Duncan Williams.

It looked harsh on the Fife defender who seemed to slip and bring down Murray with him.

But Brian Graham showed the visitors little sympathy and sent Jordan Hart the wrong way from the spot.

East Fife managed to hold out until the break and frustrated Partick who couldn't find another way in behind the Methil defence.

The visitors needed to improve after the break and they certainly did that.

Whatever Darren Young said at the interval worked with East Fife completely transformed.

From the very first attack of the second half they almost pulled level.

Smith and Scott Agnew combined on the edge of the Partick box to create an opening for Pat Slattery.

The left back found himself in the unusual situation of being free inside the opposition penalty box and with a sight of goal.

Slattery couldn't get the ball out from under his feet and set himself for a shot, though, and the chance was gone.

It was much brighter and positive from East Fife who were forcing their hosts onto the backfoot for the first time in the game.

Like their hosts in the first half, though, for all their possession they failed to really trouble the opposing goalkeeper.

Young believed there was something in the game for his side and looked to make a triple substitution to add some fresh impetus.

But just as his subs were preparing themselves to enter proceedings, the Fifers shipped another goal.

A through ball split the East Fife defence and latching on to it was Graham who sent a neat lob over Hart.

Following the game, Young said: “We had to change our formation to get a foothold in the game because we were allowing them too much possession.

“It worked well and for the majority of the second half we did well and competed.

“Then, the goal we lose, is a total schoolboy error.

“It comes from our goal kick, their boy headers it and they go through and score.

“It was nowhere near good enough and it’s frustrating because, as much as they had long spells with the ball, we defended well.”