Sat 24 October, 2015
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership 
Firhill Stadium, Glasgow.Mathias Pogba 60′
Dougie Imrie 78′
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership
Sat 24 October, 2015. Kick Off: - 15:00
Firhill Stadium, Glasgow.
Alan Archibald spoke to ptfc.co.uk ahead of the Ladbrokes Premiership clash between Alan Archibald’s Jags and Martin Canning’s Hamilton Accies.
“Training’s been very good. Obviously, two back-to-back wins meant the boys were bright on Monday morning and we are looking towards Hamilton.”
The manager expressed his delight over the defensive display in the second-half at McDiarmid Park.
“It’s a very hard place to go and they were a team in-form as well. We lost the goal two minutes into the second-half which gave all the momentum to St. Johnstone. We were dropping too deep for long spells of that second half but there was some great defending, last-ditch defending as well so it was very, very pleasing.”
Alan also feels that Thistle are finally beginning to get the rub of the green this season.
“I think if we’re honest enough, in a few games we were really poor. Hearts and Celtic stand out. In some other games we’ve done alright and there wasn’t a lot in it. We scored two fantastic goals but on another day they would have hit the post for us, the way things had been going.”
Archibald had his own views on the controversial incident near the end of the game.
“Obviously we got a wee bit of luck with Abdul’s (Osman) handball. It was maybe borderline at the edge of the box. Over the last nine or ten games the breaks haven’t really gone for us but they say that it irons itself out over the season and hopefully that’s the case now. There’s not a lot in some games and you just need to go on a run. We did that last year, in the second half of the season, and that’s all it takes to propel yourself up the league and get you out of that danger area.”
The manager aims to push on from these two victories and get Thistle to a safe position.
“We’ve only won two games and we’re still second bottom, we want to get away from there as quickly as we can.”
He was also optimistic about the team’s chances against a Hamilton side who haven’t won in their last two games.
“We’re at home, which gives us a great opportunity to continue our form. We’re against a tough Hamilton side, they’re always competitive and they’ve got a few match winners as well, but we know we’ve got a great chance at home.”
Ali Crawford could miss the clash through injury and Archibald spoke about his importance to the Accies.
“I think the goals he brings to his team is always a bonus for them. We’ll plan for a game with or without him; we need to look at ourselves and how we can hurt Hamilton. We need to go out and try to win the game, we are the home team. If he’s playing we obviously need to take care of him and try to keep him quiet.”
Due to Abdul Osman’s suspension, the managerial team have a decision to make regarding who will attempt to fill his boots.
“We have got a bigger squad now. It’s good to have choices to make. Our bench looked strong last week and four or five weeks ago we didn’t have those choices. Now we have some different personnel to choose from and it’s a good problem to have.”
We were also updated on squad news for Saturday. The manager told us that Mustapha Dumbuya will be available despite missing the St. Johnstone game through illness, Christie Elliot remains out with a longer term injury. Mathias Pogba and Stuart Bannigan have suffered from hamstring problems through the week but should be fit.
Thistle take on Hamilton on Saturday with a 3pm kick-off. Kids go free as usual so come along and support the Jags as they look for their third win on the bounce.
Thistle returned to Firhill, looking to carry on a run of good form which had resulted in the side accumulating six points from its previous two Ladbrokes Premiership games. In their way stood an Accies side which occupied a top six slot, after another good start to a league season.
Thistle made two chances to the side which had narrowly defeated St Johnstone. Abdul Osman was missing through suspension which allowed Ryan Edwards to win his first start as a Partick Thistle player. The other change saw Mustapha Dumbuya return to his right back slot, at the expense of Gary Miller who notched a spectacular effort last week. Hamilton were missing the influential midfielder Ali Crawford through injury for the first time in a couple of years.
Thistle were turned around and found themselves shooting towards the unfamiliar City End in the first half. It was maybe this change which caused the team to have a slow start with only Amoo’s sliced back post shot threatening Michael McGovern in the Accies goal.
Accies, unlike Thistle, were proving to be a constant threat with a series of high pressing and picking up on slack passes proving a dangerous formula for Thistle. After Edwards had been picked off, Morris saw the lunging Lindsay block his effort before the rebound was lifted over the bar by Greg Docherty.
The referee, Euan Anderson, was keen to let the play flow and after allowing an advantage for Lawless being struck in the head by a high boot, continued to apply the ruling throughout the game.
It was Lawless who missed Thistle’s golden chance when he got on the end of Booth’s cross. Sadly for the diminutive midfielder he was unable to direct is header on target. The counter attack started with a long kick from Cerny, a kick which seemed to cause the Czech goalkeeper a significant amount of pain. After a lengthy stoppage to be treated by the physio, it was deemed he would be unable to continue. It allowed Ryan Scully to make his first Partick Thistle appearance since Thistle’s famous 5-1 victory over Dunfermline Athletic in November 2012.
Accies still continued to have the better of the play around the goal with a cross ball being missed yards from goal as Imrie elected not to gamble and throw his body at it. As the clock ticked over into five minutes of injury time the game took a dramatic twist.
Firstly, David Amoo found himself clean through on goal, but after twisting and turning inside the box, he found his shot blocked by a recovering Accies defender. Amoo was also to play a part in the action as Accies went down to ten men. He picked the pocket of Lucas Tagliapietra and seemed destined to burst through on goal as the Brazilian defender held him back. It was a clear red card for denying a goalscoring opportunity
Thistle started the second half, knowing they were facing ten men, but somehow Accies were the side finding space in and around the penalty area, with Dougie Imrie arching a shot narrowly over the bar.
Thistle were restricted to efforts from range until with the hour mark looming Thistle stole the lead. Scully rolled the ball out to his centre half, and within five passes the ball was in the net. Booth slipped the ball to Amoo, who cut back onto his right foot to send a cross for Pogba to ghost in at the back post. It was a good close range finish for the Guinean International who finally got off the mark for Thistle.
Going a goal up did not give Thistle a great deal of confidence and instead of being on the front foot, against ten men, they found themselves going deeper as Accies continued to break quickly and pose a real menace on the counter attack. Thistle’s slack passes and poor clearances were being picked up by Hamilton and when the equaliser came with less than 15 minutes to play, it wasn’t particularly unexpected.
Scully’s goalkick was won by Canning with Nade able to hold the ball up. He played it back to Kurtaj who saw the run of Imrie and played a slide pass through to the attacked. Holding off Seaborne, Imrie took the ball around the advancing Scully before slotting into an empty net to drag Accies level.
Worse could have followed with Scully making a tremendous low save from Gillespie from the edge of the box. Accies became content to settle for a point and despite a Doolan volley going just inches past the post, they were to get it. The only real positive Alan Archibald was able to take from this game, was the extension of the unbeaten run to three games.
After a disappointing draw against ten man Hamilton Accies, ptfc.co.uk caught up with Thistle manager to get his reaction on the 90 minutes.
“I don’t think we played well at all. We had been passing the ball well against 11 men, but struggled badly when they went down to 10 men. The extra man didn’t encourage us forward to attack them which is extremely frustrating.
“When we took the lead, I thought it was a good chance for us to build on it but we didn’t. Instead we got deeper and deeper and Accies scored what was a deserved equaliser. We were aware of their threat and we knew they had real character, especially since they got a draw last week in similar circumstances.”
It was a strange 90 minutes for Thistle with young goalkeeper Ryan Scully forced on as a substitute after 30 minutes.
“Ryan did well when he came on. It was hard for him to come on in the fashion he did and to make his first appearance at Firhill in almost three years is daunting. He had some nerves, which is understandable but he made a couple of good saves. There was one at the end, when we were hanging on a bit, which kept us level and made sure we got the point at the end of the game.
“Tomas took a sore one on his ankle and we thought he might have been able to continue to half time. It turns out that he wasn’t able to and we had to get him off the pitch. He’ll be heading home in a protective boot to keep the weight off it and we’ll assess him on Monday to see the damage.”
Today also saw a debut Thistle goal for number 99, Mathias Pogba and Alan was pleased to see him get off the mark.
“It’s good for Mathias to get his first goal. He’s been great for us over the last couple of weeks and, although he didn’t have the greatest game today, he showed good play to ghost in and poke the ball home for the opening goal.
“It’s good to see that he has gotten over his injury problems from earlier in the season. His hamstrings have held up well in the last three fixtures and we’re getting him to full fitness. It’s good to have a more physical option up front against bigger defences.”
All in all, Alan agreed with the assessment that it was two points dropped but was keen to take the positives from the game.
“I’d agree it was two points dropped. We had a good chance in the first half through Steven Lawless. David Amoo also had an opportunity before Accies went down to ten men. We created a lot of chances in and around the penalty area, but didn’t create anything clear.
“It’s two points dropped, however we didn’t play well and emerged from the game unbeaten. That takes our run to three games and we’ll be looking to extend that to four, hopefully with a win rather than a draw, next weekend against Hearts.”
