Partick Thistle sting Staggies as Ross County are dumped out of Scottish Cup

Posted Sunday, January 21, 2024 by PA

Partick Thistle avenged their Premiership play-off loss to Ross County by knocking the Staggies out of the Scottish Cup with a 3-0 victory.

Former County striker Brian Graham opened the scoring for the visitors, with Scott Robinson making it 2-0 in the closing stages of the first half.

A stunning finish from Stuart Bannigan shortly after the restart put the result beyond doubt.

If memories of their last trip to Dingwall were still fresh in Partick’s minds it did not show early on as the visitors started on the front foot.

Some neat passing moves did not lead to clear-cut chances, though, and both goalkeepers had a quiet half hour.

New Ross County signing Eli King did get Jamie Sneddon scrambling across his line with an effort from a long way out that went just wide of the mark, before Partick took the lead.

A cross from Aidan Fitzpatrick on the left flank found its way to Graham at the back post, with the experienced forward tapping in.

Partick extended their advantage with the last move of the first half. Kerr McInroy charged onto a cutback to the corner of the box and saw his effort blocked into the path of Robinson, who was left with another simple finish.

Derek Adams made a triple change at the break to try and add some attacking impetus, bringing on James Brown, Jay Henderson and Jordan White, and it certainly seemed to make a difference.

Within five minutes of the restart, Yan Dhanda, Henderson and White had all had good chances – but none of them could find a way past Sneddon.

Any momentum County had been building was quickly dismissed when Stuart Bannigan scored a superb third in the 54th minute.

The ball sat up nicely for the midfielder 25 yards out and he volleyed the ball past George Wickens and into the bottom corner to seal Partick’s progress.