McManus halts Hibs' slide
Partick Thistle 0 Hibernian 1
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Your support makes all the difference.Tom McManus eased the mounting pressure on his manager, Bobby Williamson, as he secured Hibernian's first win in the Scottish Premier League in 2003.
The Scotland Under-21 striker's 15th-minute goal halted the remarkable slump that has seen his side plummet from third place to the bottom half after they threw away an Edinburgh derby success at Hearts on 2 January.
As might be expected from two sides shorn of confidence by their wretched runs, a tentativeness clung to every move. Gary Smith and Nick Colgan almost outdid each other in the 12th minute when the Hibernian defender sold his goalkeeper short with a pass back, only for Colgan to compound that error by kicking the ball straight into the advancing Gerry Britton, but the ricochet flew wide of the target.
Against such mediocrity, the goal that Hibernian fashioned three minutes later was of almost flawless quality. John O'Neil's free-kick inside the visitors' half was cleverly clipped on by Mixu Paatelainen for Mathias Jack to drive at Partick's defence. The German threaded a reverse pass into the path of McManus, who steered a composed right-foot shot beyond the Partick goal-keeper, Kenny Arthur.
However, the Edinburgh club failed to build on the platform that McManus's fourth goal in three games had provided, and Partick regained control with an intense spell of pressure before half-time.
Alex Burns conjured up a shot on the turn from 30 yards that was pushed wide by the alert Colgan, while David Rowson missed narrowly with another. A sublime exchange between Burns and Martin Hardie deserved greater reward after both had tricked their markers with deft feints, but the latter curled his ambitious shot just wide of the far post.
Such misfortunes, however, cannot disguise the fact that Thistle have the second-poorest scoring record in the SPL. But that did not prevent them launching an industrious quest for an equaliser in the second half.
Burns tugged a snap shot just wide on the hour before Colgan produced a remarkable double-save to deny Hardie 10 minutes later. The tall midfielder ghosted on to Britton's cross, but Colgan parried his shot and then pawed away the rebound.
Colgan was helpless when Barry Elliot's flick from David Lilley's long-throw arced towards his back post, but the Partick midfielder Derek Fleming just could not force the ball into the net.
Hibernian sensed they had been let off. O'Neil almost soothed those nerves five minutes from the end, cutting in from the left and unleashing a fierce shot which Arthur superbly pushed over the bar.
Partick Thistle 0 Hibernian 1
McManus 15
Half-time: 0-1 Attendance: 4,551
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