Dundee Utd 0 Partick Thistle 1

Partick Thistle boosted their survival hopes with a 1-0 win over bottom club Dundee United in the Premiership at Tannadice. Alan Archibald's side left Tayside with three points thanks to Kris Doolan's 50th-minute winner which moved them 11 points ahead of United in the table and just two points off the top six. It leaves Mixu Paatelainen's United stranded at the foot of the table, eight points behind Kilmarnock, and needing a big turnaround in results to avoid relegation. United handed a first start to Frenchman Guy Demel while Callum Morris made his first start of the season after overcoming an Achilles injury. The last time the two teams met, Thistle won 3-0 back in early October when Dave Bowman was caretaker manager of United, prior to Paatelainen's appointment. United suffered a setback inside the first 10 minutes when striker Florent Sinama Pongolle was forced to go off injured and was replaced by Charlie Telfer. It took until midway through the first half for United to create their first real opening as Billy McKay hooked a ball over the visiting defence for team-mate Blair Spittal. From 16 yards Spittal looked up but shot high over the crossbar as Thistle goalkeeper Tomas Cerny breathed a sigh of relief. United were making most of the running and in the 40th minute they threatened to take the lead. Paul Dixon went on a surging run down the left and he crossed for substitute Telfer who had raced into the box. Telfer took his shot early but Thistle defender Liam Lindsay got across in time to block his effort as the first half ended goalless. In one sweeping move, Demel fed Dixon wide on the left and he sent over a cross looking for McKay. His knock-down was aimed towards John Souttar but just as he was about to shoot, the Thistle defence intercepted. In the 49th minute Dixon unleashed a shot from 18 yards which was well saved by Cerny, and then it was Thistle who went ahead a minute later. Callum Booth's hopeful ball into the box picked out Doolan, who controlled with his left foot before finishing with his right, with a 12-yard shot past the helpless Michal Szromnik in the home goal. They almost made it 2-0 in the 55th minute when Booth put Steven Lawless through and his shot from a tight angle came back off the post, much to United's relief. However, the hosts did have a golden opportunity to equalise after an hour's play. Cerny rolled the ball straight to Telfer who, in turn, cut it back for substitute John Rankin. He quickly got his shot away from 12 yards but could only drag his effort wide of the far post. United had a penalty claimed turned down eight minutes from time as Spittal's corner was met by Morris on the volley and his effort appeared to strike the hand of Lindsay. However, referee Steven McLean saw nothing untoward as the hosts slipped to another defeat.