Saturday 20th August, 2016 at 6:00pm
Thistle may have faced the long journey down the road having been unable to take anything from Pittodrie on Saturday but manager, Alan Archibald, was philosophical when he spoke to ptfc.co.uk, preferring to focus on the very many positives his team can take from its visit to the Granite City.
“I thought we started the game very well and we certainly didn’t feel camped in or anything like that. We spoke to the boys before kick off and we had a very clear approach and game plan for the match which I think was working.
“We created a couple of really good chances and we simply have to take them, especially at 0-0. It was really frustrating to come in a goal down after such a good half but you can’t argue with a wonderful free kick like that.
“I don’t think Abdul has to make the challenge but it was more the build up that was disappointing, especially as our defensive shape had been so good up until that point.”
After a terrific performance for almost the first hour it was a poor error from Lindsay that led to the second goal, something Archibald hopes the young centre back will learn from.
“It was a big error from Liam and something I hope he will learn from sooner rather than later. Those silly mistakes have cost us before and it is vital that he eradicates it from his game. It’s a real shame because I thought apart from that he did ever so well and, together with Danny Devine, they marshaled the back line very well.”
In the dying minutes of the game, second half substitute,Chris Erskine, rifled an incredible shot into the Dons’ net from the edge of the box, it was a change that had a big impact on the game.
Archie said, “Chris was stripped and ready to come on just before the second goal went in and we just had to hold off for a few minutes. It was always in our plans to get him on around that time because we thought the game would really open up for him and he could exploit the space.
“At that stage of the game we didn’t want the whistle to come and if we had an extra five minutes I definitely think we would have scored the equaliser.”
A good overall performance was blighted when Sean Welsh was given his marching orders having been booked for a foul in his own half before receiving a second booking seconds later for dissent.
Alan said, “Sean will be fined. There’s no need for it. No matter what you think of the decision you can’t do that. Everyone knows the rules and it doesn’t matter how frustrated you are you simply can’t do that. Sean knows that though and he knows he let the team down not only today but also because he won’t be available for Hearts next week.
“Next week is the important one for us now. There were a lot of positives to take from today and we just need to make sure we take them into the game at Firhill on Saturday.”
