Match Report

Friday 14th November, 2025 at 11:06pm

Partick Thistle enjoyed a 2-1 win over St Mirren in the Steven Lawless Testimonial Match at The Wyre Stadium at Firhill with the long serving Lawless netting as the Jags came back to win.

Lawless captained a Jags side that included Lee Ashcroft after a short hiatus due to injury with Scott Martin and Daniel MacKay also on from the first whistle after much longer periods of absence.

Kyle Turner kicked things off and the Paisley men almost took the lead in the first minute with Thistle delighted to see Luke McBeth pop up a yard from goal to head a fierce drive wide.

Mikael Mandron kept up the bright opening form the Saints with a turn and shot on three minutes that brought out a driving save from Lewis Budinauckas.

Ten minutes in Alex Samuel produced a well struck drive from 25 yards that looked to have beaten Ryan Mullen until a late hand from the shot-stopper pushed the ball away with MacKay earning a corner when his cross from the loose ball was headed behind.

Two minutes later Liam Dolan freed MacKay on the left and his low cross picked out Samuel who tried a side-foot finish from 16 yards however the ball slipped past.

On 18 minutes Scott Tanser released Malik Dijksteel on the left and he skipped into the box before hitting a right foot shot that brought out another fine save from Budinauckas.

Turner looked to be heading through on goal with half an hour played as he pressed the visiting defence into a mistake only for an unfortunate slip to end his progress.

Five minutes later the home goal had an escape as Liam Donnelly fired for goal and the ball changed direction after two deflections before squeezing just past the post with Budinauckas diving frantically to his left.

On 40 minutes St Mirren were awarded a penalty as Mandron fell to the ground after a challenge from Luke McBeth with Dijksteel converting from 12 yards out.

Half-time – Partick Thistle 0 St. Mirren 1

Liam Rooney came on at the break for Ashcroft and took up the left back position with Dolan heading to centre back with the new look defence grateful to Budinauckas for an early stop from a header.

On 51 minutes a moment most of the crowd came to see happened after Samuel was barged by Fraser Taylor and referee Nicolson pointed to the penalty spot for the second time in the evening.

There was only ever going to be one taker and LAWLESS despatched the ball home low with his left foot to tie the score.

Thistle almost took the lead in the following minute when Nick Lockhart ghosted in to meet a cross from the right with his volley just pushed away by Mullen.

Lawless was given a fine ovation on the hour mark as he was replaced by Aidan Fitzpatrick with his departure marking the start of a glut of replacements.

The reshaped Jags continued to push their Premiership opponents with Gabriel Nosa creating danger and then Fitzpatrick swerving a low cross through the St Mirren box but finding no takers.

The home goal had an escape on 82 minutes when Keanu Baccus nodded past substitute goalkeeper Connor Storey only for the ball to hit the bar with Taylor nodding the rebound well.

Thistle raced to the other end and took the lead in sensational style when the ball was played back to MARTIN some 25 yards out and he thundered a drive high past Mullen.

Storey did well to get down and keep out another Baccus header before pushing away a low shot.

Fitzpatrick showed his powers of recovery as the game entered injury time as he raced back to concede a fruitless corner after one of his passes had been intercepted.

Full-time – Partick Thistle 2 St. Mirren 1

 

Teams

Partick Thistle – Lewis Budinauckas (Conor Storey 61), Cammy Logan, Scott Martin, Lee Ashcroft (Liam Rooney 46), Kyle Turner (Alex Mann 70), Daniel MacKay (Daniel Gray 30), Alex Samuel (Gabriel Nosa 61), Steven Lawless (Aidan Fitzpatrick 60), Luke McBeth (Ts’oanelo Lets’osa 70), Nick Lockhart (Harry Weir 61), Liam Dolan.

Unused substitutes – (G/k), Paddy Reading, Logan Chalmers, Dan O’Reilly.

St. Mirren – Ryan Mullen (Grant Tamoseviscous 85), Scott Tanser (Keanu Baccus 60), Liam Donnelly (Declan John 46), Mikael Mandron (Jack Lavery 46), Conor McMenamin (Lyle Hunter 75), Alex Gocic (Luke Douglas 60), Jalmaro Calvin (Marcus Fraser 60), Malik Dijksteel (Joshua Farqhaur 75), Tunmise Sobowale, Miguel Freckleton (Jayden Richardson 46), Fraser Taylor.

Unused substitutes – N/A

 

Referee – Duncan Nicolson