Thursday 31st December, 2020 at 3:24pm
As 2020 ends, despite the trials and tribulations faced, one man in the Thistle squad will look back on it as a beneficial year. Mouhamed Niang started 2020 by continuing his learning process on loan at Montrose and has finished the year as an integral part of a Jags defence which has conceded just once in seven games, earning a new contract as reward for that form. The 21-year-old spoke to ptfc.co.uk to reflect on the year:
“It’s obviously been a tough year for everyone in a lot of different ways but from a football perspective I’m really pleased with how I’ve done personally. When I think back to 18 months ago I hadn’t even played an SPFL level match but now I’ve had a run of six straight starts in the team and we’ve only conceded one goal in that time so I’m delighted with that.
“It was also brilliant to get that new contract. That tells me that the manager has been impressed with what I’m doing and trusts me to go out there and perform which is a great feeling. I’m still learning as well; there are lots of things I still need to add to my game to get better.”
Niang spent most of last season out at Montrose and the youngster reckons that spell was a bit part of his development this year.
“It definitely taught me a lot. I’d had played in the Juniors previously but League One is a step up from that and getting the chance to play regularly was a fantastic opportunity for me. You learn very quickly as well because there’s a lot on the line every week and you can’t afford to make many mistakes.
“When I joined the team were struggling after a poor start but we managed to turn it around and go on a really good run of form. We were right up near the top of the table and I think we were only six points off the top when the season was called so it was a real shame that we didn’t get to see what we could have achieved.”
Coronavirus provided an extended break for everyone over the summer but Mouhamed was keen to ensure that extra time didn’t go to waste.
“One of the key lessons I took from being at Montrose was that you have to be strong. You can’t be a pushover and I did a lot of strength and conditioning work over lockdown to help me get stronger. There are lots of big physical players right across the pitch in League One and you have to be able to give as good as you get.
“As it turns out, I’ve been playing centre-half so it’s been especially helpful because you come up against a lot big attackers who love to hold the ball up so you need to be able to out-muscle them to get to the ball.”
Since coming into the team as part of the defence, Sena says he has really enjoyed the chance to play week in week out.
“It’s exactly what you want as a young player; you want first team minutes and I’ve been ecstatic to get them. As part of that backline, we feel like we’ve done a really good job over the past month or two and although there’s still room for improvement, we’re happy with how we’re playing.
“Our most recent game at Falkirk was one of the most pleasing from my perspective. We were playing away at the league leaders and had ten men for 25 minutes I think it was and still got that clean sheet. I don’t think they really looked much like scoring with the extra man either so that was great.”
Niang says he’s just looking to stay in the team for as long as possible and help the Jags to plenty of positive results in the new year.
“There are 17 games left in the league and we’ve got some ground to make up. We had four winnable games in December but only ended up winning one of them so while we know we’re not far off turning those into wins, we need to make sure we do it because we can’t afford to fall further behind.
“We’ve got Clyde up first and it’s going to be a really difficult game. They beat us on the opening day of the season so we know they’ll have a belief that they can do it again. We just have to make sure we play our best football and stick our chances away when we get and hopefully we can get 2021 off to a positive start.”
More exclusive preview interviews with Thistle assistant manager Neil Scally and Ciaran McKenna will be available for JagZone subscribers to watch today – log in to view.
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There will also be a pay-per-view option, priced at £10, for non-season ticket holders who wish to watch our live stream of the match – click here for more info.
We’ll have extended highlights and a full game replay of our match against Clyde on JagZone this Saturday evening.
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