Partick Thistle 3-0 Ayr United: Hosts take commanding first-leg lead in play-off semi-final
- Published
Brian Graham's 19th and 20th goals of the season helped put Partick Thistle in a commanding positon
Partick Thistle will take a three-goal lead to Ayr United after a commanding first-leg display in their Scottish Premiership play-off semi-final.
Jack McMillan squeezed in a near-post finish to put Kris Doolan's side one up at the break at a joyous Firhill.
Brian Graham then made up for an earlier miss by tucking in to double the advantage before the striker's cushioned finish added a third.
The second leg takes place at Somerset Park next Friday.
Ayr, without 24-goal forward Dipo Akinyemi due to illness, failed to create enough in attack with their star striker missing, but Lee Bullen's men came close to pulling one back in the dying seconds when Paul Smith crashed a free-kick off the bar.
The visitors, playing their first game for a fortnight, looked sluggish throughout and struggled to deal with the intensity of the home side, who have now lost just once in 16 games under Doolan's stewardship.
Partick Thistle manager Kris Doolan: "We got what we deserved, it could have been five or six if we took our chances.
"Going forward, we're creative and we showed we're clinical as well. But we won't treat the tie as being over. We won't sit in and observe pressure. We'll go to Somerset looking to win."
Ayr Utd manager Lee Bullen: "I'm really disappointed with the goals we conceded. We're all unhappy at the moment, but that's credit to Thistle.
"It's down to mindset now. We've got the ability [to turn it around]. We created one or two chances ourselves which gives us optimism."