Saturday 28th September, 2013 at 2:15pm
A point from yesterday’s game at McDiarmid Park was anything but a poor result and when [link:HOME] spoke with manager Alan Archibald after the match he felt that a draw was the right result after an evenly contested fixture.
“It’s a very, very difficult place to come; we knew that and I think a draw was a fair enough result; they had chances and we had chances.”
Alan continued;
“It was good to get a good, positive result today after the 4-1 defeat against Dundee United. I didn’t think that we played badly in that game but you can’t tell the world that after a 4-1 defeat because it sounds like sour grapes as people don’t think you can play well in a game that you lose 4-1. I thought the performance today was good and I felt that we mixed it up a wee bit today as well; it wasn’t all football. We got our goal from putting the ball down the side. We’ve not had many chances like that this season and it was great that we took one when it came. I felt that Kris Doolan deserved that goal for all the hard work he’s put in both last week and again today. It was still a hard chance to take and he still had a lot to do when we got the opportunity after the slip from their defender.”
The manager agreed with the view that his side had been the better team in the opening half of football.
“We were definitely the better team in the first half and I thought that we dominated the game. That’s kind of been the story with us in the first half this season and we had a couple of chances to go 2-0 up and it would have been a different game if we had managed to get a second goal. St Johnstone changed their shape half way through the first half to counter act us and they got some joy with that and it helped lead up to their goal as well.”
Most Thistle fans would have been surprised to see Paul Gallacher, and not Scott Fox, in the Thistle goal yesterday and the manager explained why.
“Scott picked up an injury half way through a training session on Friday. We thought at the time that he had broken his metatarsal but after being sent away for a x-ray it proved to be severe bruising. We thought that he might be okay but he just wasn’t right to play today.”
Alan went on;
“It was good to be able to call upon Paul Gallacher and that was the reason why we decided to go with essentially two first choice goalkeepers rather than one experienced keeper and another young lad. Paul’s first touch was a shot low down at his right hand post and he had a few saves like that including one from Steven Maclean in the second half that came through a crowd of players. That’s why we brought Paul to the Club. He brings experience, he can step into the team and he provides competition for the goalkeeping position.”
Scott, though not fit to start, did take up a place on the bench but as the manager explained he was a good bit short of full fitness.
“It’s a long story to be honest because Scott was only about 60 or 70% fit but said that he would go on the bench. Our young goalkeeper Marc Waters got injured in a bounce game during the week and he won’t return to training until Monday and clearance hasn’t come through for the young lad from New Zealand, Scott Basalaj, who we’ve just signed.”
Paul’s job in goal was made a little easier but some fine performances from those playing immediately in front of him who were up against a very dangerous, pacey St Johnstone attack.
“We had spoken about that during the week and we had done some work on video as well. We knew that St Johnstone’s front players are very good and our defence had to be on the top of their game today and I thought that they were. There were still a couple of things that we weren’t entirely happy about but overall it was a big improvement.”
