Friday 6th April, 2018 at 11:00am
On Tuesday night, Partick Thistle travelled north and were dismantled by relegation rivals, Ross County as the Staggies defeated the Jags 4-0. The game was a huge disappointment for everyone involved on the Thistle side of things as it left the side bottom of the table on goal difference. Nevertheless, there is no time to dwell for the Maryhill men as they welcome Kilmarnock to the Energy Check Stadium at Firhill tomorrow afternoon. The team need to react with six huge games coming now between now and the season’s conclusion. Jags boss, Alan Archibald spoke to ptfc.co.uk ahead of the vital clash.
Archie started by reflecting on a bitterly dispiriting ninety minutes in Dingwall.
“It was dreadful. It was probably one of the lowest points in my career as a manager because there was so much riding on the game and everyone knows how good it feels to come out the other end of those sorts of games with a positive result but we were left in the opposite mood. The lads know that they weren’t good enough and I know that I need to make changes because we still haven’t found that winning formula.”
The gaffer is just glad that he can get the boys back out onto the pitch because there’s only one way to fix what happened earlier this week and that’s to go out and perform against Killie tomorrow.
“It’s a good thing to have another game straight away. We wouldn’t want to be stewing over that result for a week. We want to get a reaction from the players and that’s easier when the disappointment of the midweek game is still fresh in their minds. The boys want to put things right and hopefully they can channel that into a performance.”
Although Alan admits that confidence is low in the dressing room at the moment, he feels that one result could completely flip that on its head as the Jags move towards their split fixtures.
“That’s always the case for a team in poor form. You can’t understate the importance of a single win. Even a goal for us would boost the confidence in the team hugely. Both teams were looking for that on Tuesday and County got it. Now, they might go on a run of their own but we need to focus on ourselves. Dingwall is in the past and we have to try to find our result.”
The Jags manager ended by giving us an update on the squad heading into the game tomorrow.
“It’s much the same in terms of who is available. Daniel Devine comes back into contention after his suspension.”
The meeting with Kilmarnock tomorrow has suddenly become a massive one for Alan Archibald and his team and it will be a tough test against a resurgent Kilmarnock side. Kick-off is 15:00 from the Energy Check Stadium at Firhill.
More exclusive preview interviews with Callum Booth, Kris Doolan and Jags gaffer, Alan Archibald, are now available to Jagzone subscribers – log in to see them. Jagzone members will also be able to watch highlights of the game.
Can’t make The Energy Check Stadium at Firhill? Jagzone World members (outside the UK and Ireland) can watch the game live – the stream is also available on a PPV basis.
Jagzone members can also listen to live audio commentary of the match.
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Article Copyright © 2018. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to ptfc.co.uk.
