Saturday 5th August, 2017 at 9:09pm
Following a lengthy summer of preparation, the league season finally restarted today for Partick Thistle, however, it wasn’t a happy return to Ladbrokes Premiership action. Despite taking the lead in the sixth minute, the Jags ended up suffering a 3-1 defeat at the hands of newly-promoted Hibernian. Goals from Martin Boyle, Steven Whittaker and Simon Murray after Chris Erskine’s opener spelled defeat for the Firhill side. On a disappointing day for his side, Alan Archibald spoke to ptfc.co.uk to give his thoughts on the game.
Archie thought that despite the good start to the game, his side let themselves down after Hibs’ first goal in the 14th minute.
“I thought that we started brightly and did what we came here to do which was to frustrate them. We scored a very good goal but I was frustrated with the reaction after we conceded the equaliser. Our decision making and our passing was really slack and with that we invited unnecessary pressure onto ourselves.”
The gaffer reckoned that his side lost sight of how they wanted to play after the hosts netted the leveller.
“We just started to put ourselves under more pressure than we should have. We were playing the ball backwards when there were better options in front of us. We didn’t make Hibs work for their goals either, their first two came from us in possession, 10 yards inside their half.”
Following a spell last season when his side were lauded for their defensive stability, Archie is keen to find a fix for his side’s current leakiness defensively.
“I am always disappointed to lose goals, however, we’ve not had a lot of consistency at the back so I can cut the lads a bit of slack. Today was Niall Keown’s first game in any competition since coming back so he still isn’t up to his best yet and we’ll be working towards that in the coming days and weeks.”
Alan also gave us an update on Kris Doolan’s condition. The Jags striker was forced off with an injury during the first half.
“He just tweaked his hamstring. Hopefully, he’s told us early enough and used his experience to get off quickly and we hope there isn’t too much damage done. It was a big blow during the match. He is a focal point for us and can come up with goals at key times so we’re hoping that it isn’t serious at all.”
Archie and his squad now look towards Tuesday night’s clash with St. Johnstone in the Betfred Cup as the Jags attempt to progress further through the league cup. Kick-off in Perth is 19:45.
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