Saturday 16th August, 2014 at 9:56am
Thistle’s return to Dens Park for the first time since season 2011/12 which ultimately ended in a draw but was a game which many Thistle fans came away from slightly disappointed not to have got the win. These were sentiments echoed by Thistle manager, Alan Archibald, when he spoke to ptfc.co.uk after the game.
“We moved the ball really well and created a number of chances, unfortunately we just weren’t able to take them. They got the goal and then the game has been ruined with the red card. We played some good stuff for the first 45 but it’s always going to be a struggle when you’re playing half an hour with 10 men.
“I felt justice was done with the penalty save – it was a great save from Paul and it’s a really good to have a keeper of his calibre to come off the bench in situations like that. It wasn’t just the penalty, he had a great save from the header too, really instinctive. He obviously came on last year and got into the team as well, he’s a great asset to have.”
Thistle may have been travelling back to Glasgow with no points had it not been for another wonder strike by Gary Fraser after just four minutes,
“It was a great strike from Gary and he’s continuing the streak of form he’s on. I think we moved the ball around really well in the first half and, at times, Dundee really struggled to cope with us. I think we should have been one up after two minutes with Banzo’s header at the back post but that strike from Gary made up for it.”
There was another blow to Thistle in the first half as Jordan McMillan was carried off at half time with a hamstring problem.
“I think he’s done his hamstring, how serious it is we’ll have to wait and see. That didn’t help things as the match wore on and a lot of the boys were running on empty by the end of the game. The positives were definitely the work ethic of the team – all the boys worked ever so hard and perhaps that’s a game we would have lost last season.
“We were very resolute and, at the end of the day, it’s a point up at Dens Park – never an easy place to go. It’s probably a result we would have taken before the game to be fair but given our first half performance it is a bit disappointing not to be coming away with all three.”
