Tue 10 May, 2016
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership 
Tannadice Park, Dundee.Frederic Frans 67′ (o.g.)
Edward Ofere 86′
Justin Johnson 90′
Frederic Frans 6′
Kris Doolan 34′
Ryan Edwards 77′
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership
Tue 10 May, 2016. Kick Off: - 19:45
Tannadice Park, Dundee.
Summary
The journey to Tannadice is the final away trip that Thistle fans will make this season. Dundee United will be playing Championship football next season so Thistle won’t be visiting the ground on league business for the next 12 months, having already made the journey twice this season. Kris Doolan’s goal gave the side a valuable league win in December, before our Scottish Cup journey ended at the home of the Arabs on Friday. Thistle fans approaching Tannadice may also pass Dens Park, home of Dundee, with both grounds sitting a stone’s throw away from each other.
Entry
The travelling Thistle support will be located in the Jerry Kerr Stand with a cash gate operating on the day. The view from the stand is reasonable with nothing blocking the action, although the near touchline isn’t visible from some seats. If you intend on going to the game simply to stare at the management team of Alan Archibald and Scott Paterson I’m afraid you can’t see the dugouts.
Entry Prices:
£21- Adults
£12 – Concessions(Under 18s, Over 65s and full time students)
Travel
Train
There are regular trains to Dundee with the 17:19 service from Glasgow Central being the last one to get to the City of Discovery in advance of kick off. The walk to the stadium is a long one so if you are on this train you’ll need to get a taxi to the ground from the station. A quick hike, however, is required from Tannadice in order to catch the last train back to Glasgow at 21:54.
Supporters Bus
CITY CENTRE BUS:
Pick Up:
Q Club: 17:20
Station Bar: 17:30
Non-members welcome please call 07979496154 to book.
JORDANHILL BUS:
Pick Up:
Jordanhill: 17:15
Thornwood Bar: 17:20
Prices: £16 for adults. £10 for concessions.
Bookings are essential. Contact Alistair on 07817612563 or .
General Enquiries: contact Iain on 07779668357
NORTH WEST BUS:
Pick Up:
Milngavie Station: 17:00
Esquire House: 17:15
Maryhill Community Hall: 17:30
Prices: £17 for adults. £10.50 for concessions(School aged children, unwaged adults, senior citizens & 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.
Thistle secured their Premiership safety with Saturday’s victory over Kilmarnock and Alan Archibald has wasted no time in securing another of his out-of-contract stars on a longer term deal, with Abdul Osman committing until 2018. It seemed the perfect place to start when ptfc.co.uk caught up with Alan after training on Monday.
“I’m delighted that Abdul has decided to stay at Firhill for another two seasons. He’s been excellent for me since we brought him in at the start of last season and we’re glad he’s decided to stay. This season’s he been captain, he’s been my leader on the pitch and I think you can see how badly we miss him when he isn’t on the pitch.
“Hopefully Abdul is the first of a few to sign. When you have the possibility of being in the playoff it delays our plans a little bit, now we’ve got that sorted we can talk to players and get their thoughts on next season. We’ve got a good nucleus of players already signed up for next year and I think we’re in a better position than we were last year.”
A gruelling schedule over the last couple of months has seen a number of players play through the pain barrier and Alan admits some of the players will begin medical treatment in a bid to start next season as fresh as they can.
“The fixtures we’ve had over the last few months have taken their toll and now that we’re safe we can send players away to get the surgery that they need. We’ve been missing Tomas Cerny, Gary Fraser and Stuart Bannigan for a while and they won’t make it back for Saturday so their seasons are over. Abdul Osman and Callum Booth are another couple who won’t feature again this season.
“The fact we are missing so many regular first team bodies does open up the opportunity for a couple of players from the development squad to show us what they can do. We brought on Kevin Nisbet at the weekend and he looked lively in the time he was on the park. We started the season with Liam Lindsay and Jack Hendry starting in defence, which is great for the club. It shows the players coming through the academy that there is the opportunity to get into the first team.”
Thistle travel to Tannadice with both clubs having their fates decided for next season, but Archie is looking for the win as he eyes the sides sitting above Thistle in the league.
“We’ve achieved our first target of making sure we are safe in the league. We want to use the last two games of the season to finish as high as we can in the table. We want to beat last year’s points total and, if possible, finish higher than 8th in the table. We’ve got a great chance to put pressure on Dundee and Inverness if we can get the three points on Tuesday night so we’ll be making sure that whatever side takes to the field is ready to try and get the three points.”
Thistle’s support will head to Tayside in joyous mood knowing that the side is safe and the gaffer knows his side can be assured of a loud backing.
“The fans were great on Saturday at Kilmarnock. You wouldn’t have known we got beat 4-1 the weekend before by the way they backed the team. With it being a midweek game, it might not be the biggest Thistle support to make the trip to Dundee, but we know they’ll get right behind the side and enjoy themselves in the process. We’ll be aiming to get a win to send them all home happy.”
Thistle travelled to Tannadice to face an already relegated Dundee United side almost 20 years to the day since the Jags suffered a horrible relegation through the playoffs at the ground. The club was shocked with the sudden passing of club kitman Ricky Roughan earlier in the day and the side were looking to get a victory in his memory.
Thistle had secured their safety on Saturday and that allowed Alan Archibald to rest players who had been playing through the pain barrier in recent games. Out of the side which triumphed on Saturday went Abdul Osman, Callum Booth and Gary Miller as they looked to begin recuperation ahead of being fully fit for the next campaign. Liam Lindsay was recalled to the centre of defensive, with Frederic Frans shunted to right back. James Penrice was drafted in for his competitive debut and he lined up in the left back position he has made his own in the Development League. David Wilson went in to the heart of midfield alongside Sean Welsh.
James Penrice was keen to impress and made an immediate impact on the travelling Thistle support when he fired a 25 yard effort just wide of Kawashima’s post.
With six minutes on the clock Thistle took the lead. Penrice was entrusted with corner kick duties and whipped over a cracking delivery which Frederic Frans powered home at the near post.
United and Thistle were keen to play an open attacking game of football with both sides passing the ball around well on the Tannadice surface. Simon Murray drilled a shot across the face of goal after 14 minutes, with Scully relieved to see the ball evade his far post by a number of feet.
Billy McKay was on a one man mission to drag United level but he was finding Ryan Scully in fine form, pushing away his effort from just outside the box
With just over 30 minutes on the clock Thistle doubled their lead. David Amoo flicked on Steven Lawless chipped ball with Sean Dillon looking like he was able to clear the danger. He blundered on the edge of the box to present Kris Doolan with an opportunity and the in-form striker made no mistake from close range after rounding Kawashima.
United came out strongly at the start of the second half when Smith sends a low shot into the sidenetting after showing neat skill to evade the attentions of Frederic Frans.
After an excellently observed 65th minute’s applause for Ricky Roughan, United did get themselves back into the game when a corner kick was deflected into the back of the net via an unfortunate deflection from Frederic Frans.
Thistle went up a notch as they looked to re-establish the two goal lead and Ryan Edwards created a chance for himself before forcing an excellent save from Kawashima.
United were continuing to put pressure on the Thistle goal but somehow the Thistle rear-guard remained intact when United players were queuing up to put the ball in the back of Ryan Scully’s net. With less than a quarter of an hour to go, however, Thistle netted at the other end to extend the lead.
David Amoo showed great determination to battle through a tough challenge before crossing the ball for Ryan Edwards who headed home from close range.
The game looked to be drifting to a tame conclusion when suddenly Dundee United managed to force their way back into the game.
Aidan Nesbitt threaded a tremendous through ball to Kevin Nisbet who had an excellent shot tipped around for a corner before Edward Ofere had too much time and space at the edge of the box to power a shot through Seaborne and Scully.
With the fourth official indicating a minimum of three minutes added United grabbed their third of the game. Ofere flicked on for Johnson who was able to brush off the challenge of Welsh to fire a low effort into the net from inside the box.
Thistle had to settle for just a point on a day where football was secondary after the news that a member of the Partick Thistle family passed away earlier in the day. Thistle will look to sign off their season with a win against Hamilton Accies on Saturday.
Thistle emerged from Tannadice with a point after an entertaining 3-3 draw with Dundee United. It would have been all three points if it wasn’t for the concession of two late goals to bring the Tayside club back into the match. Ptfc.co.uk caught up with Alan Archibald shortly after the game to get his thoughts of the match.
“It’s frustrating not to be standing here talking about a win. We need to see out the final stages of games and we didn’t do that tonight. Saturday showed that we are capable of doing that when we beat a Kilmarnock side that are fighting for their lives.
“We did well in the game to get ourselves a two goal lead. Dundee United grabbed a goal back but we went and got a goodthird goal and I thought that would be that. We had the gamewon with five minutes to go and we let it slip with is alwaysdisappointing.”
It was a makeshift side that took to the field with a number of changes and Alan was pleased with the way his side had performed.
“We’ve got a number of players who have picked up injuries so we’re down to the barebones in terms of numbers. We had Frederic Frans playing at right back for the first time and I thought he did well. David Wilson did a good job in the middle of the park and just got a bit tired in the end so we had to take him off. Hopefully we haven’t picked up any knocks from tonight and we’ll be able to put a strong side out against Hamilton on Saturday.
“James Penrice came in and made his debut at left back and I thought he did really well. This is just the start for him, he’ll have to keep working hard at his game to continue improving but I thought he did well. United put difficult players up against him throughout the game and I thought he coped well with them.”
The manager knew better than most the impact that Ricky Roughan had on the club and he paid tribute to a friend that he has known for a long time in his life.
“Ricky may have been an employee of Partick Thistle but he was also a close, close friend and someone I’ve known for over 20 years. He’s been someone who has had an impact on myself and my family for a very long time. He’s the heart and soul of the club and he brings a lot of life to it.
“He was more than a kitman at the club. He did everything around the club and he was always there when someone was down to help pick them up. If someone got too big for their boots then he brought them down a peg or two. Guys like him are a massive loss to the game. Whether you knew him for ten minutes or for ten years, he touched everybody.”
