Celtic vs Partick Thistle. Scottish Premiership.
Celtic ParkAttendance54,047.
Thursday 6 April 2017 15:00, UK
Scott Sinclair scored his 22nd of the season but went on to miss a second-half penalty as Ade Azeez earned Partick Thistle an unlikely but fully merited point at Celtic Park.
Thistle may have afforded the champions a guard of honour as they took the field but they were in no mood to extend their benevolence to the field of play.
They kept their hosts at bay fairly comfortably before Sinclair's classy finish gave Celtic the lead but any thoughts of a stroll thereafter were swiftly disabused by Azeez's goal and the excellent Tomas Cerny went on to keep out Sinclair's penalty kick.
Eboue Kouassi was making his first start for Celtic and showed some nice touches and vision but it was half an hour before Cerny was seriously tested, the Thistle keeper dealing comfortably with Patrick Roberts' effort.
Sinclair was foiled by a fine Danny Devine challenge while Nir Bitton forced Cerny to beat away his swerving shot.
When Roberts did finally manage to unlock the Thistle defence, he released Sinclair in the box and he made no mistake (50).
Celtic continued to press but were caught out after a double substitution as Azeez (64) nipped in to level from Christie Elliott's low cross.
Sinclair had an immediate chance to restore the lead after he was fouled in the box but Cerny made a fine stop from his spot kick.
Thistle looked to profit and Adam Barton went close before Azeez spurned a chance for glory, allowing Jozo Simunovic to snuff out the danger as Celtic were forced to settle for only their third league draw of the season.
Elsewhere, St Johnstone opened up a five-point lead over opponents Hearts with a 1-0 win in Perth, Joe Shaughnessy's header settling the issue. Sam Nicholson's late ordering off capped another disappointing outing for Ian Cathro's side.
It finished Motherwell 0-0 Hamilton in the Lanarkshire derby with Accies finishing the game with 10-men following Darian MacKinnon's red card. The point extends the gap between Accies and Inverness at the bottom to three points.
