Saturday 1st December, 2012 at 9:12pm
It’s Scottish Cup day again tomorrow with a place in the last sixteen of the competition up for grabs. The pursuit of league points may be put to the side for the duration of the afternoon but the fact that the First Division’s top two go head to head at Firhill just gives our clash with Dunfermline a little extra spice.
Just three weeks have elapsed since the two teams last met, Thistle enjoying an emphatic 5-1 win, but that doesn’t lessen any the sense of anticipation surrounding this fixture with the BBC choosing it as one of their feature games in their Saturday night highlight package.
Said manager Jackie McNamara when speaking to ptfc.co.uk
“Tomorrow’s tie is a big game for both teams. We haven’t had much luck when it has come to cup draws in recent seasons and I don’t think that either side will view this as the ideal draw for them. Continued involvement in the Scottish Cup though can prove to be a big financial boost to a club. Dunfermline are currently experiencing some fairly well publicised problems in that regard but we’ve had our own problems as well. The Board of Directors that we have at the Club have done everything that they can to support the playing side of things, but it is a very tight budget that we operate with. Any extra funds that the Scottish Cup can provide would be very much appreciated.”
“I must stress that I am very happy with the squad that I currently have and I’m not necessarily looking to bring in any new faces. There is plenty of competition within the squad at the moment and we have had to deal with some notable absences recently, and have coped with them well. For example in that recent league game with Dunfermline we were without Stuart Bannigan, Steven Craig and Sean Welsh; three players that you might normally have expected to start the game. Tomorrow we will be without Paul Paton who completes his two game suspension.”
“So far this season those that have come into the team have done very well. Aaron Sinclair’s form has been excellent since he came back into the side and last weekend against Livingston Stuart Bannigan was excellent in his first game back after injury and displayed a great level of fitness.”
“We’re hopeful that Steven Craig will be fit for the game tomorrow. We’ll assess the situation overnight but he trained with us this morning. During the week Mark McGuigan scored a hat-trick in a reserve game down at Annan and looked really sharp and he is a great option to have available as well.”
The goalkeeping situation has been a problem in the last couple of weeks and our thanks are extended to Ludovic Roy who sat on the bench for us as a trialist last weekend. It looks as if he will be on the bench tomorrow as well and we are fortunate that the contacts within the game that our goalkeeping coach Craig Hinchcliffe has allows us to bring players like him in.
Meantime both Scott Fox and Ryan Scully are making good progress they both joined us for training today and did some running and handling but tomorrow’s game is going to be just a week too early for them.”
Partick Thistle Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
3 1 1 9 3
Scorers Season 2012-2013
Steven Lawless 9
Chris Erskine 8
Kris Doolan 7
Steven Craig 5
Stuart Bannigan 3
Ross Forbes 3
Aaron Muirhead 2
Aaron Sinclair 2
Sean Welsh 2
Conrad Balatoni 1
Christie Elliott 1
Stephen O’Donnell 1
Own Goal 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday November 24th 2012
Partick Thistle 2, Livingston 0
Dunfermline Athletic Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
3 1 1 13 8
Scorers season 2012-2013
Andy Barrowman 8
Ryan Wallace 6
Ryan Thomson 5
Josuha Falkingham 2
Stephen Husband 2
Joe Cardle 1
Craig Dargo 1
Andy Dowie 1
Stephen Jordan 1
Andy Kirk 1
Jordan McMillan 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday November 24th 2012
Dunfermline Athletic 4, Dumbarton 0
Last Meeting
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday November 10th 2012
Partick Thistle 5, Dunfermline Athletic 1
Teams
Thistle: Fox (Scully), O’Donnell (Elliott), Sinclair, Paton, Muirhead, Archibald, Lawless, Balatoni, Doolan (McGuigan), Forbes, Erskine.
Dunfermline: Gallacher, McMillan, Kane (Kirk), Dowie, Morris, Geggan, Thomson, Husband (Whittle), Barrowman, Wallace (Cardle), Falkingham.
Scorers
Thistle: Lawless (5, 75), Balatoni (34), O’Donnell (39), Forbes (56)
Dunfermline: Muirhead – own goal (24)
Match Highlights
Match Details
William Hill Scottish Cup Fourth Round
Saturday December 1st 2012
Partick Thistle v Dunfermline Athletic
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Prices
Adults: £12
Concessions (over 65s, under 16s): £5
Season tickets are not valid for this fixture.
Programme: £2.50
Match Officials
Referee: Steven McLean
Assistant Referees: Ross Haswell and Ralph Gordon
Other Fixtures
William Hill Scottish Cup Fourth Round
Aberdeen v Motherwell
Celtic v Arbroath
Cowdenbeath v St Johnstone
Dumbarton v Hamilton Accies (POSTPONED)
Forfar Athletic v Ayr United
Hibs v Hearts (Sunday)
Kilmarnock v Queen of the South
Livingston v Dundee
Rangers v Elgin City (Sunday)
Raith Rovers v Deveronvale
Ross County v Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Stranraer v Dundee United
Stenhousemuir v Falkirk
St Mirren v Brechin City
Turriff United v Morton
