Partick Thistle v Celtic – 27th October 2013

This coming Sunday sees the final game of the first round of fixtures meaning we will have played every team once and the report card is sure to read rather positively.  Perhaps though, the hardest game has been saved for last, something that the manager is in full agreement with:
“There is no doubt that Celtic are the benchmark for all the teams in the league.  They are the best side but I do believe that on any given day any team can match any other and that is what I am hoping on Sunday.  I watched them play on Tuesday against Ajax and they were very impressive in a very tense game.  They are a very impressive side and they have threats from a lot of areas.  I consider their pace a threat and their height at set-pieces too, although I thought we handled that threat from Inverness very well last week.”
Given that the manager feels that the opposition are a team who will pose a lot of threats he is also positive that we will be able to do the same back:
“The most important thing is that we go out and give a good account of ourselves.  We have to avoid getting caught up in the occasion and start properly and lay down our markers.  We have a lot of skill in our team and I need them to play the way they can, the way they have done in nearly every fixture so far this season.”
So how do we stand with team news:
“We are not too bad.  It is a game we will have to do without Gary Fraser who is suspended while Jordan McMillan is about a week away from being able to play.  Mark Kerr is having some issues with his back and he may miss out so we will see what we will do with regards to filling the bench on Sunday.  The situation with Gary Fraser was disappointing.  I did not see the incident on Tuesday but the referee’s report does not make good reading.  He is due to appear before the SFA in November and he will have to take his punishment then and we will deal with matters internally.”
The game is certainly heading for a big crowd, and the Manager hopes that the atmosphere is something that the players will rise to:
“Late on last season we had some cracking atmosphere’s at Firhill and it certainly made for some super nights.  I suspect that there will be a lot of people in the ground on Sunday and I know that the Thistle fans have been really looking forward to this game.  I imagine that the Jags supporters would love nothing more than to win this game and we would love to be able to put one over them if we possibly could.”