Archibald feels hard done by

Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald believes his side were wrongly robbed of the opening goal in the Ladbrokes Premiership match against Hibernian as the Jags succumbed to a hard-fought 2-0 defeat in the capital.

The Maryhill men had the ball in the net in the second half when a Baily Cargill header squirmed under the body of Cammy Bell. Although Archibald claimed the ball had already crossed the line, Daniel Devine made sure by slamming the ball home from close range.

However, assistant referee Douglas Ross had already raised his flag for offside - believed to be due to Miles Storey apparently standing in Bell's line of sight.

With, by Archibald's own admission, Partick still reeling, Hibs scored through Martin Boyle within 60 seconds before Paul Hanlon settled the contest four minuets later.

Any hopes of a comeback were dashed when referee Andrew Dallas dismissed Devine for a second bookable offence.

Archibald, whose side face a relegation six-pointer against Ross County on Tuesday, said: `I watched the disallowed goal back and we think offside has been given against Miles Storey because he was standing around the area of the goalkeeper.

`But he didn't impede the goalkeeper Bell, who made the save. The ball then trundles into the net before Danny Devine got to it, so I'm not quite sure - I didn't waste my time chapping his Dallas' door.

`Things work differently at the bottom end of the league. We've all been there.

`Having said that, we maybe felt sorry for ourselves and should have defended better at their opening goal.

`So we just need to lick our wounds and look forward to Tuesday.'

Hibs, meanwhile, are just four points adrift of Aberdeen and Rangers in the battle to be crowned best of the rest and, despite rueing a lacklustre opening 45 minutes, head coach Neil Lennon was thrilled by his side's response following a disruptive international hiatus.

Lennon explained: `It was a very flat first half. We lacked energy and urgency and purpose - but we were a lot better in the second half.

`It's always a worry with these elongated breaks. Some players have been away, some have had injuries, some are coming back to full fitness.

`We really only got them back as a whole group on Thursday, so I understand it (flatness) to an extent. But it wasn't good and the players got a bit of a pep talk at half-time.'

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