Former Aberdeen player David Lilley was not expected to feature due to an injury to his upper leg, but it was his old club who must have felt as though they had been kicked in the groin as his 32nd minute strike set Patrick on the way to only their third league win of the season.
To make matters worse for Aberdeen, Lilley was also on target in Thistle's 1-0 victory when the sides last met at Pittodrie back in September.
Having been totally outplayed in the first half, the Dons at least showed more desire after the break and grabbed a late consolation through Leon Mike yet the suspicion remains that last weekÂ's battling draw with Rangers was another false dawn.
With a bit more luck Patrick might have gone ahead in the very first minute but a acrobatic volley by Gerry Britton finished just the wrong side of the post.
Attacking midfielder Martin Hardie looked equally threatening for the home side and on three occasions found himself in a scoring situation only to panic at the crucial moment.
Thistle kept up the pressure however with a driving run and stinging shot from striker Alex Burns and a free- flowing move which nearly set up full-back Alan Archibald.
Aberdeen had been restricted to a pair off inaccurate long-range efforts but in the 27th minute only a desperate last-ditch block prevented Darren Mackie from giving them an undeserved lead.
Visiting keeper Peter Kjaer then pulled off a fine reflex stop to deny Scott McLean, before Hardie drilled the rebound wide.
LilleyÂ's goal underlined Thistle's clear superiority, but it was a different story in the second half with home goalkeeper Kenny Arthur frustrating Patrizio Billio and Eric Deloumeaux as Aberdeen pushed for an equaliser.
With barely ten minutes left the hard-working Hardie doubled Patrick's advantage as he kept cool in the middle of a goalmouth scramble to hammer the ball high into the roof of the net