Tuesday 26th August, 2014 at 9:59am
Thistle manager, Alan Archibald, knew how tough the Jags’ first cup tie of the season would be before kick-off and it certainly turned out to be the case as the boys from Maryhill battled to a 1-0 win in a tight contest at Cappielow. Archie spoke to ptfc.co.uk straight after full time to tell us what he thought of the match.
“That was a tough tough game to be fair to Morton. They took it right to the end, which we knew they would do, and they caused us problems. We’re just delighted to make it through. When you see the other results from tonight and see how tight it is, it’s just great to be in the next round. We certainly know we’ve been in a game tonight, that’s for sure.”
It was down to Kris Doolan, who started the game, to grab the winning goal and although he hasn’t been starting for Archie in the Premiership the Thistle manager is well aware of exactly what he brings to the team.
“He showed what he can bring tonight with a very good goal at a very crucial time in the game. He’s not started so far this season so I think he had a point to prove tonight but he has done well and we all know what he’s capable of.
“We were keen to give Dools a run out, give him some game time and to get some of his match sharpness back. We started with Stevenson up there and it worked. Sometimes that’s what happens in football, but we know how good Kris is and he will score goals for any side he’s in.”
There’s no getting away from the fact that the primary aim for Thistle was to make it through to the next round.
“First and foremost we just wanted to make it through tonight and obviously we’ve achieved that. It was always going to be hard down here on such a tight tight pitch. At times we did open it up but we didn’t do it enough tonight from side to side.
“We’ll be targeting the cups this year, you saw a lot of teams make a whole load of changes for cup games last season but we only switched two boys tonight. It’s something we want to do well in and it would be great for the fans and for the club if we could go far this season.”
