Mayo: The atmosphere is very positive

Friday 11th March, 2022 at 5:19pm

Following back-to-back victories, Partick Thistle’s next cinch Championship challenge is an away trip to Cappielow Park to play Greenock Morton. Thistle defender Lewis Mayo took time to sit down with ptfc.co.uk to discuss the team’s recent positive form and the game against the Ton:

“The atmosphere is very positive, there’s an upswing in momentum now and we’re looking to continue that. It’s obviously a great feeling to get out of fifth because we’ve been sitting there for so long with the games racking up knowing what could’ve happened if we had picked up the points. We’ve got a few big games coming up and it could be exciting to see where that takes us.

“We’ll be looking to put things right after the game at Firhill when we felt we were very much the dominant team. It was actually a good performance between both boxes but ultimately we didn’t do enough in each box to go and take three points, so we’re looking to go and get one over them and also push towards the top of the table.”

Further reflecting on the previous game against Morton, when Dougie Imrei’s side were 1-0 winners, Lewis spoke about what the team needs to do differently this time around.

“I think we need to be more ruthless at both ends. We weren’t aggressive enough defending set pieces in our own box and ultimately we didn’t find that clinical edge in the final third. If you look at the other night we had chance after chance and we didn’t put them away, I think that’ll change.”

Following Thistle’s rise up the table to third place, Lewis alluded to the impact that has on himself and his teammates psychologically.

“I think it increases motivation and I think any pressure we are feeling is a healthy one and one that players will thrive off. We’re quite honest with each other as a group about where we want to be at the end of the season and to get there we’re going to have to go and get results in these big games coming up like we have done recently. There’s a good belief and confidence among the team and we just want to keep this momentum going now.”

Lewis went on to break down why recent games have been so low scoring, with there usually only being one goal to decide the result.

“Coming into the business end of the season especially when you’re playing teams at the bottom end of the table who are all battling for survival, I think it’s natural. Also the pitch and conditions these past few months have been tricky which can encourage teams to be a bit harder to break down.

“I think that has always been the nature of this league as the games get more competitive and one goal can decide a game very easily and you never know where it’s going to come from. I think the game the other night is a good example of a team that wanted to sit in very deep and we had to be relentless to break them down, then we finally got the reward.”

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