Saturday 21st September, 2013 at 2:12pm
Alan Archibald had mixed emotions when he spoke to [link:HOME] after yesterday’s game. On one hand he was pleased with his side’s overall performance but equally disappointed that that they didn’t collect all three points.
Said Alan;
“I was absolutely delighted with the way that we reacted to last week’s defeat. They did everything that was asked of them. They started the game well and they started the game on the front foot.”
The manager continued;
“From our point of view the big disappointing thing was the goal that we gave away. I’m not sure if it coming so soon after half-time is down to the youth of our team or not but we stressed to the boys at half-time what to expect. We expected that Kilmarnock would come out the traps fast at the start of the second half but the fact that goal came after we had given away possession was frustrating. Kilmarnock really got their heads up as a result of that and they had their best spell in the game after that.”
During that good spell that Kilmarnock had they came close on a couple of occasions to taking the lead and would have done so but for some fine saves from Scott Fox and Alan was quick to praise the contribution of his highly rated goalkeeper.
“I’ve mentioned a few times before just how important Scott Fox is to us. He was one of the first players that we got signed up for this season and I was delighted with that. He was outstanding for us last season and he outstanding again today with some great saves.”
Thistle recovered well from that period of Kilmarnock pressure and looked the more likely side to win the game in the final quarter of the match.
“I thought that we finished the game really strongly and that our fitness levels really showed. Christie Elliott came on and made a big impact which he does do all the time. He brought an injection of pace and was unlucky not to score.”
It took a last ditch challenge deep in injury time to deny Christie the opportunity to score what surely would have been the winning goal with Alan feeling that praise should be directed the way of the Kilmarnock player for making the all important tackle.
“To be fair I think all the credit should go to the lad for getting back, I think that was right winger that was chasing back and he did brilliantly as I really did think we were about to score. That’s just one of these things and hopefully one of these days we are going to start taking these kind of chances, we are certainly making enough of them.”
Finally there was praise for Isaac Osbourne who in most people’s eyes was a deserved recipient of the Man of the Match award.
“Isaac was unlucky to miss out last week but he just got on with things. He trained hard all week and I thought that he deserved the man of the match award that he got today. He was outstanding for us and covered a lot of ground and won a lot of second balls.”
