Friday 27th November, 2020 at 5:10pm
After a 2-0 victory over East Fife at Firhill last Saturday, Partick Thistle are on the road again this weekend as they travel to take on Montrose. The Jags and the Gable Endies sit on seven points each with Ian McCall’s side ahead on goal difference, meaning they sit in fourth position. There are a couple of former Montrose players in the Thistle ranks including midfielder Mouhamed ‘Sena’ Niang who spent last season on loan with the Angus club. He spoke to ptfc.co.uk ahead of his return to Links Park:
“My time at Montrose was great. The move kind of came out of nowhere but to get the chance to go and play games at League One level was absolutely brilliant and it’s helping me massively for this season I feel.
“When I arrived we were struggling but we started to pick up and I worked my way into the team and I was really enjoying my football. I ended up getting a back injury which meant I missed some time and obviously we didn’t get the chance to finish the season but it was a very beneficial loan for me and I’m looking forward to going back this weekend.”
The Jags’ number 21 has made seven appearances so far this season including his first two league starts in Thistle colours and he says he’s thoroughly enjoying his involvement.
“It’s what I’ve been working towards for a few years now and it’s fantastic to be getting these opportunities. As I’ve already said, I feel like the loan has put me in a really good place to fight for a spot in the team and I’m just trying to make the most of each opportunity I get.”
21-year-old Mouhamed was filling in at centre-half last week against East Fife, putting in a very distinguished performance and he says he was just happy to be helping the team to an important win.
“I was really pleased that the manager put the trust in me to go and play centre-half. I haven’t played there regularly in a while but I do have experience playing there so it wasn’t too unfamiliar and I was satisfied with how I played. To get the clean sheet was massive and the three points were crucial for the team.”
This weekend’s opposition boast the joint best attack in the league to this point and Mouhamed knows a thing or two about what to expect from some of his ex-teammates.
“They’ve been scoring a lot of goals so far this season so that’s something we have to work as a defence to stop. They’ve got plenty of threats and some guys that I already know about from my time there so hopefully we can keep them at bay and get another clean sheet on the board which will give the boys up front the platform to go and play off.”
Including this weekend’s game, the Jags have four more matches until they’ve played everyone in the league once and Niang feels it’s a perfect time to put a run of results together.
“Coming away from the little cup break we had we’ve got off to a good start in this stretch of league games with the win last week but now we have to build on it. We jumped up to fourth with one win which shows how quickly things can change.
“We got off to a bad start which means we need to get the points on the board now and I think the boys are feeling confident and feeling like we can go and get those points over the next few weeks.”
More exclusive preview interviews with Thistle assistant manager, Alan Archibald and Ryan Williamson are now available for JagZone subscribers to watch – log in to view.
JagZone subscribers will be able to tune in to live audio commentary for this weekend’s clash with Montrose – click here to tune in.
We’ll also have extended highlights and a full game replay of our trip to Montrose on JagZone this Saturday evening.
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