Scottish football play-off drama as veteran's 100th goal sparks pitch invasion as 17y/o lands £100 reward

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg against Ayr United at Firhill on Tuesday, Thistle headed to Somerset Park as underdogs against the Honest Men, who finished a place above them in the Championship.

However, despite missing a number of players through injury, Partick showed character in spades to take down Scott Brown’s Ayr 2-0 on the night and 2-1 on aggregate thanks to a double from Graham and set up a two-legged semi-final against Livingston next week.

Thistle took the lead on six minutes when Graham headed home from a corner delivered by 17-year-old debutant Jamie Low, who excelled at left-back. The rest of the match was fairly even but Thistle found the winner on 88 minutes when Graham showed great composure to take in an Alex Jakubiak pass and finish coolly past Ayr’s on-loan Celtic keeper Josh Clarke.

The goal in front of the travelling Partick support sparked a pitch invasion, with man of many clubs Graham urging the fans to return to the stands despite chaotic yet jubilant scenes.

Thistle will now host Livingston on Tuesday night at Firhill, with the second leg in West Lothian on Friday night. The winner will face the team that finishes 11th in the Premiership in the final, which is currently Ross County.

£100 reward for Low

It was revealed afterwards that Graham had promised debutant Low £100 should he find his head from a corner kick during the match for a goal.

"That takes real character,” said Graham. "We're down to the bare bones, we've not really got the squad to pick from and we relied on a 17-year-old kid to come on and play wing-back. The kid has come in tonight, he's not put a foot wrong. he was absolutely different class and I'm so happy for him."

Lowe said: "I only found out before the game when he named the team. Spoke briefly yesterday in training and he said it's possible I could get game time. I never knew it was a guarantee. He owes me 100 quid. In the warm-up, we actually spoke about that exact corner."