Partick Thistle 1, Dunfermline Athletic 0.

Dunfermline were left deflated and out of the Scottish Cup after a late goal at Firhill.

On a night which saw high winds hit Fife, the Pars failed to create a storm at Partick Thistle and an impressive curled effort from the home side’s captain Ross Docherty was enough to see the Jags progress.

John Hughes had named an unchanged starting line up for this third round tie after Saturday’s welcome victory against Ayr United.

After a goalless draw last month against Thistle, the travelling Pars fans would have been hoping for a more eventful cup game this time out despite the freezing conditions at Firhill.

The first half didn’t bring much in the way of chances for either side although the home side maybe would have felt disappointed not to have broken the deadlock.

Things initially looked promising for Dunfermline who had the first chance of the game with a long range shot from Dom Thomas but this went straight into the arms of Jamie Sneddon.

A promising cross from Aaron Comrie came soon after but his ball was put out for a corner.

The Jags had a chance on 14 minutes after Gaspuitis lost possession but the danger was cleared before another chance came from Stuart Bannigan minutes later but his Owain Fon Williams got down well to claim the ball.

The Pars keeper was back in action just after the half hour when he pulled off a great save from a Zac Rudden shot. The rebound came to Scott Tiffony who belted the ball towards goal. His effort looked destined for goal but crashed off the post and was cleared for a corner.

Dunfermline came close on 50 minutes when they a free kick when Dow brought down. This was whipped in by Thomas and reached the head of Connolly who headed down but no one could get on the end of it to capitalize.

Thistle came close soon after when Tiffoney pulled the ball back to Cammy Smith. His shot was tipped over by Fon Williams for a corner.

The home side continued to enjoy a lot of the possession and Mark Connolly produced a vital block on 74 minutes to stem the pressure.

With just ten minutes to go, the Jags were ahead when Ross Docherty picked up the ball on the edge of the box and curled in a superb effort which went into the top corner.

The Pars were on the attack minutes later when substitute Nikolay Todorov hit towards goal but the home side cleared for a corner.

In the closing minutes, Todorov had another chance on goal but his shot from the edge of the box was straight at the Thistle keeper.

Partick Thistle

Sneddon, McKenna, Hendrie, Akinola, Holt, Turner (Gordon 72), Tiffoney, Bannigan, Rudden (MacIver 67), Docherty, Smith (Murray 79).

Subs: Stone, Stanway, Stevenson, Hastie.

Goals: Docherty (80)

Dunfermline Athletic

Fon Williams, Comrie, Gaspuitis, Connolly, Edwards, Macdonald, Dorrans, Todd (Todorov 67), Thomas (O’Hara 82), Dow, McCann.

Subs: Graham, Wighton, Wilson, Pybus, Allan, Cole, Mehmet.