Partick 1 – 1 St Mirren

Partick Thistle and St Mirren are level after a 1-1 draw away to Firhill in the second leg of their William Hill Scottish Premiership play-off final.

Killian Phillips opened the scoring for Saints in the 39th minute of a frantic and open match that hardly took time to catch its breath.

Mark Wilson’s men went ahead after the break and with the Bodies defense leveling in the 62nd minute, Aidan Fitzpatrick struck.

Both sides gave it their all in search of a winner but the match ended all square and the tie will be decided in Paisley on Monday night.

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Monday 25 May 7:30pm

St Mirren, who won the Premier Sports Cup final in December before finishing second-bottom of the top flight, may believe home advantage will see them through but the Maryhill men, who have lost in the play-offs for the past four years, will have a lot to say about that after the good they got against the visitors.

Phillips, deployed almost as a striker by interim boss Craig McLeish alongside the powerful Mikael Mandron, blocked a couple of early attempts inside the Jags penalty area that indicated his intent.

In the eighth minute, Fitzpatrick cut in from the left and curled a shot just wide of the far post from the edge of the box.

Phillips deflected another shot wide for a corner from 16 yards after a great move down the right involving Mandron and Richard King.

At the other end, good goalkeeping from St Mirren’s Ross Sinclair thwarted Alex Samuel when a sloppy header by King got past the Jags striker Alex Gojic.

Thistle keeper Josh Clark saved a low drive from Phillips, who was sent through by Mandron, then more relaxed play from St Mirren midfielder Jacob Devney allowed Tony Watt to clear a shot and Sinclair blocked.

Phillips obviously got the goal when he took a pass from the excellent Mandron in the Jags box and fired the ball in front of Clarke.

However, just before the break, Jags captain Lee Ashcroft had a great chance to equalize when he headed a Fitzpatrick corner past the post from six yards.

Ts’oanelo Let’osa replaced Logan Chalmers early in the second half as Wilson switched sides and the battle resumed.

There was a scare for the home side when Mandron dispossessed Clarke inside the box as he took possession but when the ball fell to midfielder Alan Campbell, his lob was a yard wide of the target.

On the hour mark, Fitzpatrick’s attempted pass was blocked from distance by Mandron but his shot was straight at Clarke.

However, the Thistle wide man made up for that misjudgment when he calmly converted Watt’s cross from the right, which found him unmarked 14 yards from goal.

The Jags were on top but couldn’t find another breakthrough.

Substitute Gary McKay-Steven hit the inside of the far post in added time but the offside flag went up.