Sat 25 July, 2015
Friendly 
Firhill Stadium, Glasgow.Sean Welsh 54′
Matt Derbyshire 34′
Friendly
Sat 25 July, 2015. Kick Off: - 15:00
Firhill Stadium, Glasgow.
Thistle concluded their pre-season preparations with a 1-1 draw against English Championship side Rotherham United.
Alan Archibald made four changes to the side which drew against Wigan Athletic with Miller, Lindsay, Stevenson and Fraser coming moving into a starting slot having been on the bench on Tuesday.
Thistle made a quiet start to the game with Rotherham keeping the ball well in the opening stages, but gradually Thistle came into the game with Amoo’s pace being strongly utilised by excellent passes from Sean Welsh.
Rotherham had a couple of half chances when they pounced on a poor clearance from Cerny but the goalkeeper made a confident stop from an offside, Clarke-Harris. The big striker was creating a number of problems for the Thistle defence and he headed wide from a Ledesma cross.
Thistle went a goal behind just after 30 minutes when Derbyshire headed home from the edge of the box. Cerny came dashing off the line when he would probably have been better remaining on his line, and didn’t quite get there before the striker nodded into the unguarded net.
Thistle were lucky not to be two down when Cerny had to look smart to gather a ball from the feet of Clarke-Harris. On the stroke of half time Green evaded a few Thistle challenges and fired inches wide with Cerny appearing to be beaten.
Thistle started the second half sharply and were almost instantly level when Amoo found Stevenson unmarked inside the box. The attackers header was too close to Collin and the goalkeeper parried the ball away.
The equalising goal was delayed by only three minutes before Sean Welsh fired the side level. Gary Fraser pressured the Rotherham defender and Thistle won the ball high up the pitch. The ball was passed to Welsh who took a touch to control before firing the ball past the goalkeeper from 35 yards.
Both sides had chances to nick it but there were no further goals as Thistle continue a proud unbeaten record in home friendlies which extends all the way back to July 2010.
Thistle concluded their pre-season preparations with a draw
against Rotherham United. Alan Archibald spoke to ptfc.co.uk
shortly after the full time whistle to give his verdict.
“Rotherham are a good side, which we knew. It was a good test
for the Hamilton game and that’s why we took it on.
“We’re now at the stage where we’re nearly ready to kick off. We’re just getting guys ready and making sure they have enough minutes. We had a couple of guys who didn’t play today as they
have been involved heavily during the other games and we didn’t want to play them too much.”
Thistle’s pre-season has seen the side face tougher opponents as
it has progressed through July.
““That was the thought in pre-season. We had Falkirk last Saturday on the astro last week to prepare for Hamilton and now we’ve had the English teams, who are big physical sides, they’ve got quality as well. They can pass the ball and test you bringing a bit of tempo to the game.”
Sean Welsh scored a spectacular equaliser to ensure the game
finished level.
“After two years of tough times, the goal was the icing on the
cake for him. It’s his first goal, I think, since beating Airdrie in
the 2012/13 season and it was a cracker. He’s had a good run of
it during this pre-season and hopefully we can guide him
through and get him back to his best.”
Thoughts now turn to next week’s game against Hamilton.
“It’s one of the toughest games we could have had. It’s a battle
and they have signed a few guys from outside Scotland which
makes them tough to research.
“We’re going into it in confident mood. We’ve drawn three and won one of our four pre-season games which is good form and we’re looking to get off to a flying start like we did last year.”
