Saturday 28th April, 2018 at 7:57pm
Having picked up their first win since January last week when they defeated Hamilton 2-1, Partick Thistle travelled to McDiarmid Park looking to make it two league wins on the bounce for the first time this season. Thistle had no scope to change their position in the table after Hamilton beat Ross County earlier today but the Jags were able to extend the gap between themselves and the 12th placed Staggies and they managed to do just that. A goal in the 39th minute from Joe Shaughnessy had the Perthshire Saints leading but a late penalty, won by Ryan Edwards and converted by Conor Sammon, earned the Maryhill men a point that could prove valuable with just three more games to play. Thistle manager, Alan Archibald, spoke to ptfc.co.uk following the game to share his thoughts on a scrappy 90 minutes.
The gaffer started by highlighting how happy he was with his side’s spirit as they battled from behind to claim points for the second week in a row.
“I think some people thought that because St. Johnstone are all but safe that we would just beat them but they put up a good fight. Saints did a great job of stopping us from playing. They cut off the flow of the ball from back to front and made it difficult to create but, credit to the lads, they didn’t give up at any point and kept fighting for that equaliser.”
Archie is glad that the team were able to take a point because although it doesn’t change the table much, it keeps Thistle unbeaten post-split and keeps confidence up.
“Psychologically, it’s a big one. We had been on such a poor run of form that just going two games unbeaten is a step forward and although that sounds dreadful, it’s the truth. Losing before the County game on Friday would have been a massive blow so that equaliser could be worth more than just the point we got today.”
The teams directly above and below Thistle in the Ladbrokes Premiership table played earlier in the day but the manager says that the Jags shouldn’t get hung up on other results and should focus on getting maximum points from their own games.
“You hear people saying if they do that and we do this then we’ll finish here but I’m just thinking about us. We can’t rely on any other results going our way but we can win our matches. It’s not up to us whether Dundee beat Hamilton or St. Johnstone beat County but we can go out and win our last three games now and hope that it’s enough to get us to 10th.”
Alan was pleased to have won the penalty late on and glad to see the experienced Conor Sammon step up and score with seemingly no nerves whatsoever.
“Conor is a very cool customer. He’s seen it all in his career and we know we can rely on him from the spot. That’s his third penalty; all this year which is surprising considering how infrequently we’ve had penalties in recent seasons but it’s good to know that when we get them, we can trust him to stick them away.”
Archie and the Thistle squad now look to next Friday’s crunch game against Ross County as 12th take on 11th in the Ladbrokes Premiership. Kick-off is 19:45 from the Energy Check Stadium at Firhill.
A more in depth video interview with Alan Archibald is available now to Jagzone subscribers and will be followed by reaction from Baily Cargill and Conor Sammon. Log in now to see it as soon as it is available.
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