WHEN Stuart Bannigan made it 2-0 to Partick Thistle with around half an hour to go against Cove Rangers on Saturday, the midfielder was convinced he had capped off a near-perfect week in dream fashion – only for the Jags to surrender their lead in the last 10 minutes as Jim McIntyre's men battled back to snatch a point.

It’s been quite the few days for the long-serving midfielder. At the start of last week, it was announced that Bannigan would be receiving his testimonial. A few days later, it was revealed that he will be inducted into Thistle’s Hall of Fame. Then on Saturday, as he celebrated his 30th birthday, he appeared to have sealed a hard-fought win for the Jags.

It wasn’t to be, though. Mark Reynolds’ late double salvo took the shine off Bannigan’s big day but he could at least take some solace from the fact that the point sent Thistle to the top of the Championship standings.

“It was a weird day,” Banngian said. “I thought I was going to be the hero for once in my life but it wasn’t to be.

“The boys were saying to me before the game that I was a stick on to score but I wasn’t sure about that – I haven’t scored since April 2021 in a League One game against Montrose. 

“It was a strange game. We were completely in control, we should have had a few more goals – especially in the first half where we really made a lot of good chances. And then we go and fling it away from two set-pieces which was bitterly disappointing. 

“We should have been [out of sight] but you still need to defend and do your job. We might have been a bit unlucky with the ball falling so kindly to Mark Reynolds for the equaliser but to be 2-0 up with ten minutes to go, we should be seeing that out.

“It is too early in the season to be looking at the table just now. We would much rather the extra two points. We will take it and it is nice to be top but this is a game we might look back on and regret how we let the points slip from our grasp.”

Bannigan’s celebrations after finding the net were exuberant, to say the least. After slotting the ball home, the midfielder ran the length of the pitch to celebrate with supporters in the John Lambie Stand, who started serenading the fans’ favourite soon afterwards.

“I may have taken my celebration a bit too far,” Bannigan said. “I enjoyed the moment and it was nice of them to sing happy birthday to me but at that point I was thinking that I had scored the goal to secure us the points. It was disappointing not to do that because our performance certainly deserved it.

“It [this week] has been very strange. I have had a lot of people messaging, players I used to play with. My phone was blowing up all week.

“I am really proud and delighted with the news but a lot of the boys I have previously played with have all been in touch to see what is going on! It has been good to hear from them because there have been a few nice messages.”