Steven Lawless' late goal puts Partick back in top-six picture
Steven Lawless struck a stoppage-time winner to revive Partick Thistle's top-six hopes with a 1-0 victory over Motherwell.
Thistle were heading for the second successive goalless draw after a poor 90 minutes on a difficult surface before Lawless volleyed home from 16 yards with the aid of a deflection.
Motherwell created their best chance later in stoppage time but Gary Fraser headed a Stephen McManus header off the line.
Both teams came into the game without a Ladbrokes Premiership win in 2016 and Thistle leapfrogged their visitors to move two points off the top half.
The pitch passed an inspection a little over two hours before kick-off but there were large swathes of barren patches on the flanks.
Marvin Johnson belied the conditions with some excellent wing play in the opening minute but the home defence just about managed to deal with his two subsequent crosses.
At the other end, Lawless was not far away with a shot and header from outside the box and Dan Seaborne headed straight at Connor Ripley from a corner but the game quickly degenerated into a scrappy encounter.
Barry Cook booked home players Gary Miller, Seaborne, Stuart Bannigan and Abdul Osman and many of the 2,000 specially-designed yellow cards, which were handed out to fans before the game, were waved in the air by the Jags fans when Johnson fouled Lawless, but the referee did not follow suit.
Johnson again incurred the wrath of the home support when he went down theatrically in the box, although Cook appeared to think long and hard before playing on following Sean Welsh's challenge. Stephen Pearson was the first visiting player booked as he illegally stopped the resulting break.
Motherwell could not capitalise on a spell of late first-half pressure and Seaborne blocked Pearson's effort just after the break after Johnson and Moult passed up chances to shoot.
The goalmouth activity again subsided and Motherwell opted for a tactical switch when new midfielder Morgaro Gomis came on for striker Moult and Johnson moved into a central area, while Kieran Kennedy came on for the injured Ben Hall.
The hosts brought on Mathias Pogba and David Amoo. The former had a half chance, heading Miller's looping cross on to the roof of the net, but the changes made little difference to the stalemate.
The 90 minutes passed without a serious chance but the game came alive in stoppage time.
Source: PA
