Ten-man Airdrie slipped to a fourth defeat in their last five Championship games, as Brian Graham’s double picked up the points for Partick.
In a game that suffered a 40-minute delay when one of the officials got injured in the warm-up and a replacement had to be found, injury-ravaged Diamonds were second best and they are still looking to haul themselves out a dismal run that has seen them pick up just one win in their last 11 games, and left them bottom of the league.
Adam Frizzell had cancelled out Graham’s fifth minute opener just before half-time to give the Diamonds hoping of ending their winless streak.
But they played most of the second half with 10 men after Lewis McGrattan’s straight red card for a late tackle on Kyle Turner.
And that eventually cost them when Graham turned home Harry Milne’s driven cross in 72 minutes to bag his sixth goal in his last four meetings against Airdrie.
Rhys McCabe’s men stay bottom but are now a point adrift of ninth-place Dunfermline.
Depleted Airdrie made three changes from last week’s SPFL Trust Trophy exit to East Kilbride. Murray Johnson, Lewis McGrattan and Chris Mochrie came in for Kieran Wright, Dylan MacDonald and Cammy Bruce. Ex-Airdrie loanee Kanayo Megwa started for the Jags.
Kick-off was delayed by 40 minutes as the clubs clambered for an official. An announcement even went out around Firhill asking if a grade five referee was in the stadium, but one was eventually sourced and it was game on.
However, just five minutes in Airdrie might have wished it wasn’t, as Partick took an early lead.
Logan Chalmers cut inside and tried to curl a strike towards goal. It took a fortunate defelection into the path of Graham at the back post and the Jags skipper kept his cool to drive a first-time strike into the bottom corner beyond Murray Johnson. It was Graham’s fifth goal against the Diamonds in their last four meetings.
In 22 minutes Partick should have doubled their lead. A slip by Murray Aiken, who was the last defender, as he tried to clear a ball over the top allowed to Chalmers run in one-on-one with the keeper. But Airdrie got a huge let-off as he opted for a spectacular chip over Murray Johnson from the edge of the box, instead of a simple finish, and his effort hit the top of the crossbar.
The Diamonds were barely getting a look in but they pulled level in fine fashion seven minutes before half-time. Frizzell picked the ball up on the edge of the box and some neat-interplay with Lewis McGrattan saw him take the return pass and rifle the ball into the bottom corner for 1-1.
Fifty seconds into the second half, the woodwork came to Airdrie’s rescue. Sam Graham’s clearance fell straight to Megwa and his rasping drive smacked the post.
Moments later, Graham poked an effort agonisingly wide of the target when staring down Diamonds keeper Johnson, as the Jags looked to catch their visitors cold again.
Airdrie’s task did get much harder in 51 minutes though when McGrattan saw red. The midfielder slid into a late tackle on Kyle Turner in the middle of the park. It was right under the nose of referee Iain Snedden and the whistler showed no hesitation in sending him for an early bath.
Partick had the ball in 62 minutes when Aidan Fitzpatrick’s cross was headed home by Graham at the near post, but he was flagged for offside.
Sam Graham’s goalline block and a superb follow-up save from Johnson then denied Thistle in the box, as Megwa’s volley was kept out and Graham’s close-range strike was turned away in a goalmoth scramble that Airdrie somehow survived.
But the pressure finally told in 72 minutes when Harry Milne burst downthe left and his driven cross was poked home at the back post by Graham, netting his seventh goal of the season.
It would have been a heavier defeat if not for Johnson producing a top save down to his left to turn away Fitzpatrick’s curling effort.
The Diamonds are back in action next weekend when they host high-flying Ayr United.
PARTICK: Roberts, Ashcroft (Muirhead 59), Megwa, O’Reilly, Milne, Bannigan, Turner (Crawford 70), Chalmers (Smith 70), Fitzpatrick, Robinson (McBeth 78), Graham.
Scorers: Graham 5, 72
Bookings: Robinson, Muirhead
Subs not used: McCready, Nilsson, McBeth, Sayers, Stanway, Diack.
AIRDRIE: Johnson, Badley-Morgan, Watson, Graham, Aiken, Armstrong (Agyemang 85), Gallagher, Frizzell, Mochrie (McGregor 56), McGrattan, Wilson (Cooper 73).
Scorers: Frizzell 39
Bookings:
Sent off: McGrattan
Subs not used: Wright, MacDonald, Bruce, Taylor-Sinclair.
HT: 1-1
Att: 3,609
Ref: Iain Snedden
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