Friday 1st November, 2019 at 4:15pm
As the season creeps over from October to November, Somerset Park prepares for the return of Ian McCall and Neil Scally. The former Ayr United management team are back this Saturday on what will be a big day personally for the pair, joined in the Thistle dugout by assistant manager, Alan Archibald. However, that return takes a backseat for McCall and co with all focus on the three points which will be on offer against the Honest Men. The Jags remain bottom of the Championship after 11 games and are looking for a win to get them moving up the division standings. The aforementioned Neil Scally spoke to ptfc.co.uk to preview the clash with Mark Kerr’s side beginning with a reflection on his time at Ayr:
“It’s a great club. I was there as a player for a long time and then obviously I was on the coaching staff as well so I think I’ve maybe got about eight or nine years there all in all but as soon as you move club you’ve got to put that to the back of your mind and when the game kicks off I’ll only be interested in getting three points for Partick Thistle.”
Scally then looked back to Tuesday night when Thistle were beaten 1-0 by Dundee United, explaining what he feels we need to add to the performance to turn it into points.
“I think the key is just our finishing touches. During the game as a whole at Tannadice, the boys were fantastic and carried everything out exactly as we’d asked but just our final ball wasn’t quite there so I think if we can maintain the performance levels from Tuesday and add that bit of quality in attack then we’ll be in a great position to win.
“We try to work on that in training, of course, in terms of creating chances and finishing but a lot of it will be a confidence thing and once you get one goal you find a rhythm of taking those chances.”
Neil then gave us an update with regards to team news, including some good news regarding Reece Cole.
“The injury news is pretty much the same as it was for Tuesday night’s game except we have Reece Cole back; he was back in training today so we have another player available for selection which is great.
“Reece came on in the Queen of the South game and looked really good. His range of passing is great and you can see he has real quality on the ball so for him, he just needs to get his head down, work hard in training and try to get back in the team.”
Finally, Scally commented on the travelling Thistle support who he hopes will turn out in numbers to back the team in Ayrshire this weekend.
“Since I’ve been here, there’s been a fantastic away support and we’ve given them a couple of great results to enjoy in Inverness and Dundee. Obviously we would have loved to have got them a win at Tannadice on Tuesday but it wasn’t to be and hopefully they turn out again at Somerset and this time we can reward their loyalty.”
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