Saturday 5th November, 2016 at 2:26am
Partick Thistle’s four match unbeaten streak came to an end as the Jags were defeated by Aberdeen in the Firhill side’s first Friday night fixture of the season. Alan Archibald has changed the shape of his team in recent weeks in a decision that has brought about positive results but his team were beaten for the first time since changing formation by a strong Aberdeen outfit. After the match, ptfc.co.uk spoke to Archibald about the evening’s events.
First and foremost, Archie believed that his team possibly deserved more than they got, which is an all too familiar felling for the Jags’ boss this season.
“I think in terms of clear-cut chances we had more than them. So if we look at the chances each team created then I think we probably deserved a point.”
The Thistle manager thought that his team started slowly on the night, which was disappointing.
“We grew into the game. At times, we were struggling to get out of our half but they weren’t really causing us too many problems in front of goal. I don’t think they created any great opportunities in the opening stages. We had some great chances at crucial times but we couldn’t take them.”
Archie was particularly angered by how quickly the Dons were able to retake the lead following Adam Barton’s equaliser.
“I’ve just spoken to the lads about it and I don’t know if they were getting caught up in the occasion after our goal but there are a lot of mistakes involved with Stockley’s goal. Fair play to the boy, it was a sublime finish by Stockley but there was some bad decision making on our part.”
As the Jags took up a three centre-half formation for most of the match, Adam Barton was subject to some more praise as he had another solid outing, topped off by his first Thistle goal.
“He did very well as he has done for since he came into the team but I thought that, collectively, we didn’t pass the ball as well as we have done previously. The big difference in the game was that they were clinical while we weren’t.”
Archibald believes that losing a goal so quickly after the equaliser affected the team spirit of the home side.
“We had changed our shape and I thought we were causing them some more problems. However, to lose a goal as quickly as we did, it killed the enthusiasm that followed the equaliser, a little bit.”
The gaffer knows that there is work to be done during the upcoming international break in preparation for his team’s clash with Motherwell at Fir Park in two weeks.
“You never want to head into an international break with a loss but we have to dust ourselves down. The boys have been great over the past few weeks and we have to make sure we react positively against Motherwell.”
