Partick Thistle manager Kris Doolan felt half the country were willing his Championship side towards the Premiership – and he’s gutted that Ross County defied the odds to win it.
Aidan Fitzpatrick’s goal on the stroke of half-time took the tie further away from the Staggies, who lost the first leg 2-0 at Firhill on Thursday.
The jubilant fans, signing “Thistle are back”, were stunned as a Yan Dhanda penalty and Simon Murray goal on 71 and 73 minutes hauled the scoreline to 3-2 overall.
George Harmon’s last-gasp leveller for County sent the drama into extra-time, but there were no more goals.
At the end of a pulsating penalty shoot-out, Josh Sims sealed a 5-4 sudden death win to keep County up and Partick in the Championship.
Five years ago, both these sides dropped out of the Premiership and Thistle looked on course to be heading back there.
Never before had a club finishing fourth in the Championship come through the play-offs to win promotion.
Thistle scored 19 goals throughout their six play-off ties, which also including sweeping two-leg wins against Queen’s Park then Ayr United.
Losing the ‘lottery’ of a shoot-out
This result ended a run of 11 games without defeat for Thistle, whose surge towards what seemed like promotion was stopped in the most dramatic fashion.
He said: “I’m devastated as you would imagine. I’m gutted for everyone to be honest because we put so much into the games.
“Half the country was probably behind us, not just Partick Thistle fans. I felt we put ourselves in the best possible position but when it goes to penalty kicks it is a lottery.
“Football is cruel and I know it’s cruel but to go out on penalty kicks is worse because you feel as if you were so close.
“I’m just devastated for everyone because the work that goes on behind the scenes, the work the players have put in. I think they can be proud of that.
“I genuinely feel they can be proud of what they have accomplished. We’ve had a taste of what you could possibly achieve. Hopefully we can regroup and come back stronger.”
Fans want to see Jags’ front-foot style
And Doolan, who felt his side should have had a penalty when they led 1-0 but VAR ruled against it, was proud his players pushed the promotion equation to the limit.
He added: “We heard from the start no one has done this from fourth place. We forced that back.
“That was because of the players, to do it from fourth, we felt we were the ones who could do it.
“Their attitude, desire, work-rate every day for me at training is second to none. That is why we were in the position we were in against the Premiership side and we have to thank the players for their efforts and how they go about things.
“They have been a pleasure for me to work with but also a credit to the club because fans want to see teams like ours playing on the front foot. Hopefully they will see more of that.”
Conversation