Sat 7 November, 2015
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership 
Dens Park, Dundee.Kane Hemmings 85′
Liam Lindsay 5′
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership
Sat 7 November, 2015. Kick Off: - 15:00
Dens Park, Dundee.
Summary
The Journey to Dens Park will look extremely familiar to anyone who has made the trip to Tannadice, That’s because the two grounds sit a stone’s throw away from each other, on the same street!
Entry
The travelling Thistle support unfortunately have the worst view in the stadium. In years gone by Thistle have been behind the goals but instead recently have been given the end of the old main stand at Dens. The Jags fans will be squashed into the end sections with a number of poles blocking the action, so get in early to avoid a poor view. The entrance is on the main road and there will be a number of turnstiles open.
Entry Prices:
Thistle fans will be occupied in the Main Stand with admission prices as follows:
Adults – £22
Concession – £15 – over 65 or students with matriculation card.
Under 16s – £12
Anyone purchasing a ticket as either concession or Under 16 price may be required to show proof of age
Travel
Train
There is a train every hour that will take you to the City of Discovery. Trains take around an hour and 20 minutes are direct from Glasgow Queen Street. The walk to the stadium is a long one so it may be better to get a taxi to the ground from the station.
Supporters Bus
CITY CENTRE BUS:
Pick Up:
Q Club: 11:20
Station Bar: 11:30
Non members welcome please call 07979496154 to book.
JORDANHILL BUS:
Pick Up:
Jordanhill: 12:45
Thornwood Bar: 12:50
Prices: £18 for adults. £9 for concessions.
Bookings are essential. Contact Alistair on 07817612563 or .
General Enquiries: contact Iain on 07779668357
NORTH WEST BUS:
Pick Up:
Milngavie Station: 12:00
Esquire House: 12:15
Maryhill Community Hall: 12:30
Prices: £17 for adults. £10.50 for concessions(School aged children, unwaged adults, senior citizend & matriculated students)
Car
If you are driving to Dundee then you will need to find some on street parking. The old car park behind the ground is now housing and the parking there is residents only. You should be able to find a space up a side street but prepare to have to look for one and face a walk to the ground.
Pubs & Eating
There are a couple of pubs around the ground. The Centenary Bar is walkable and located on Clepington Road. Eating places are limited around the ground so you may have to branch off into the City centre where you will find all your usual city centre eating options and a number of pubs.
Ahead of Saturday’s match against Dundee, Alan Archibald spoke to ptfc.co.uk about how the squad is shaping up and also touched on how they are looking to improve on last week’s second half performance against Hearts.
“Last Saturday was very disappointing, especially in the second half. I said after the game that the lads downed tools after they scored their second and I wasn’t meaning to be overly critical but, especially when compared to the first half performance, the second 45 minutes was unacceptable.
“I think the lads knew what had gone wrong – they’re an honest enough bunch. To be fair they have been up for it in training this week and there won’t be anyone feeling sorry for themselves. There are potentially places up for grabs so I wouldn’t expect anything less than 100% from every one of them.”
The loss to Hearts was made to feel worse for Thistle fans as Dundee United picked up three points at home to Ross County.
“That certainly didn’t help, but we knew it was going to happen and we just need to concentrate on looking after ourselves at this stage. The gap has been cut now and we need to make sure it doesn’t get cut any further.
“This is an important stage of the season for us because everybody in the bottom half play each other, so points are inevitably going to be dropped. We just need to do everything we can to ensure that we aren’t the team dropping them.”
While Archie is clearly aware of the danger of dropping points he also knows how quickly teams can move up the table with a run of results.
“You only need a string of results and then the table looks much different. If we can put together two or three wins in this period of the season we can really start looking above rather than below.”
With Ryan Scully seeing red in the latter stages of last Saturday’s game, Archibald now turns to Paul Gallacher to strap the gloves back on up at Dens Park.
“Obviously with Tomas injured and Ryan out suspended we’ll be looking to Paul to step back into the fold. He’s a model professional and still keeps himself fit so I don’t have any worries about bringing him back in.
“We’re actually in a stronger position than most clubs when it comes to keepers. A lot of clubs will go with a number one and then a youngster as the backup but we have Tomas, Ryan and Paul which can prove invaluable in situations such as these.”
Other than the goalkeeping situation the manager has almost his full squad to choose from.
“Christie Elliott is still out although he has started running this week which is a big boost for us. Other than that it’s just Tomas Cerny out and Ryan Scully suspended.”
Thistle travelled to Dens Park to take on Dundee looking for a vast improvement in performance after a disappointing second half performance against Hearts last Saturday at Firhill.
Manager Alan Archibald, was forced into a goalkeeping change with Paul Gallacher coming in for his first appearance since a 1-0 loss to Ross County in March. The other change came at the other end of the pitch with Kris Doolan preferred to Mathias Pogba as the lone striker.
Dundee started the game stronger with Healey posing problems in the opening couple of minutes, forcing a low save from the veteran goalkeeper with barely two minutes played. Thistle continued to be under pressure before a break down the right hand side resulted in the opening corner of the game. Stuart Bannigan’s corner was met by Liam Lindsay in the box and he headed his first Thistle goal past Bain to give Thistle the lead.
The loss of an early goal didn’t deter Dundee who continued to apply pressure on Thistle but Paul Gallacher was more than equal to anything that reached himself in the Thistle goal. Thistle were reliant on counter attacks with Bannigan finding a shot from the edge of the box, blocked by the feet of a defender.
Thistle forays into the Dundee half were being restricted by a determined Dundee side who saw their latest effort, from McGowan, well save by the feet of Gallacher. As Thistle broke through Amoo, he had plenty of options but played his pass too late allowing Kris Doolan to stray offside to curtail the attack.
Amoo was proving a danger to Dundee down the right hand side and from another excellent cross Doolan was unlucky not to be able to force the ball over the line from close range as Thistle saw out an excellent first half that ended with Dundee booing their side off the pitch.
Dundee came out with renewed vigour at the start of the second half and threw players forward with a determination to grab the equalising goal. Thistle were dealing well with the aerial threat being posed with the delivery of set pieces deep into Thistle’s box. When the Dees did manage to trouble Gallacher in the Thistle goal, he was proving to be more than equal to their efforts.
Thistle were still proving a menace on the counterattack and after Stuart Bannigan accumulated his sixth booking of the league season meaning he will miss the next league fixture, Gary Fraser fired a spectacular effort which Bain did well to tip over the crossbar.
With time running out Dundee kept pounding the Thistle goal and after a series of near misses, they finally bagged the equalising goal with just over five minutes remaining. Dundee gathered a loose ball just outside the box, tempting Paul McGowan to slot a pass to Stewart. His poor touch flicked the ball into Kane Hemmings who needed no second invitation to finish low past Gallacher. No Thistle player appealed for offside with Gary Fraser playing the former Thistle trialist onside.
No sooner had they been pegged back, than Ryan Stevenson almost regained the lead with a low effort from 20 yards which Bain did well to parry away. The game finished on an end to end frantic conclusion but last ditch defending from both sides meant there was to be no further goals and Thistle were forced to settle for a point.
Having led for most of the game only to concede a late, late Kane Hemmings equaliser, Alan Archibald was understandably subdued when he spoke to ptfc.co.uk after today’s game.
“Dens Park is always a really tough place to come and, to be honest, I thought we had done enough to secure all three points. In the closing stages we were looking at three points and a strong away performance so to concede that goal is a real killer. It was an opportunity to close the gap on those above us and also to move further away from United
“They started really brightly but once we got to grips with the game we were playing well and holding a strong shape. We created quite a few chance in the first half and, if we had scored at that point, that would have given us a bigger cushion. We didn’t extend that lead and it ultimately cost us.”
Thistle came under sustained pressure in the second half and weren’t able to hold out for all three points.
“I think we changed how we were playing too much in the second half and sat too deep. That invited pressure which is ultimately what led to us conceding. We were three or four yards further up the pitch in the first half and held our shape much better. That’s probably the most disappointing aspect of our second half performance.
“Credit to Dundee though, they threw everything at us and have good attacking players. Paul has them playing good attacking football and it showed out there today.”
Thistle’s goalkeeping coach, Paul Gallacher, made his season debut at Dens today and acquitted himself very well. The Firhill gaffer had nothing but praise for the former Scotland international.
“We’re delighted for Paul and he deserves a lot of credit for his performance today. He’s not really had any game time this season but always keeps himself in tip top condition and that showed today. He’s a fantastic professional and it’s great to have him available when we need him.”
Although the three points evaded him, Archie was much happier with his team’s performance when compared to last week’s outing against Hearts.
“I think last week against Hearts we had an extremely poor second half and that showed in the result. We worked the defence hard during the week and I think that showed today. Our shape was much better and we looked much more solid.
“We haven’t had a lot of goals from set pieces this season so that’s a major boost and it was great to see Liam get his first goal. We’ll be working hard to learn from the good and bad today to take it in to the Inverness game which comes after the international break.”
