BELL'S First Division
Play-off Final 2nd Leg Result
Peterhead 1 v 2 Partick Thistle
HT 1-1
(after extra time; aggregate 3-3; Partick Thistle win 4-2 on penalties)
Partick Thistle are back in the first division after a tension filled penalty kick shoot out. But how this final turned in the frantic last minutes as Peterhead saw their dream crumble in front of them.
Yet is seemed so different in the opening exchanges as Peterhead, with a 2-1 lead from the first leg, forged further ahead after only five minutes when Martin Bavidge drove them into the lead.
However, Thistle showed their resilience and fighting qualities to hit back hard and just three minutes later Mark Roberts hauled them back into the tie when he equalised.
And that was that until the second minute of injury time with Peterhead seemingly destined for promotion when they were dealt a shattering blow. A Billy Gibson 25 yard free kick ricocheted off Dougie Cameron and into the net behind despairing keeper Paul Mathers.
That took the tie into extra time but no further goals were scored by either side and it was onto the nervy penalty kick shoot out. And the tension built up with both Dougie Cameron and Keith Gibson missing from the spot for Peterhead while Will Snowdon of Thistle also failed to find the net. However, when striker Paul Ritchie stepped forward to calmly convert the Thistle players and fans erupted with joy for they were back in the first division.
Said manager Dick Campbell; "We got our just desserts late in normal time. I thought our mentality in extra time was stronger than theirs. This is all about Partick Thistle being back in the first division."
But Peterhead manager Ian Stewart was disconsolate and said; "To be that close and have it taken away is tough. My boys gave me everything and I cannot ask for more than to be beating a full time team again and then in the 92nd minute get an unlucky deflection and lose."
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