Wednesday 9th May, 2018 at 12:41am
It was another disappointing night at the Energy Check Stadium at Firhill for Partick Thistle as Motherwell took all three points courtesy of Ryan Bowman’s second half header. With results elsewhere going in the Jags’ favour, a victory would have eliminated the spectre of automatic relegation ahead of a trip to Dens Park on Saturday. As it stands, Thistle head into the final game of the Ladbrokes Premiership still in danger of being automatically relegated to the Ladbrokes Championship.
It was a clearly disappointed Alan Archibald who spoke to ptfc.co.uk after the dust had settled on the match.
“The result overrides everything. The performance at this stage of the season doesn’t matter, it is just all about getting the points and tonight we got nothing. We played well in the first half and created a number of opportunities but didn’t take anything. We were punished by a free header from a set piece and that has killed us in the last three games – all the goals against have resulted from set pieces.”
The Jags created a number of opportunities during the first half and were made to rue their profligacy in front of goal.
“We started on the front foot and Conor had the first chance after a couple of minutes which set the tone. We threatened Motherwell and they had to change their shape at half time to stop us being effective, which was credit to how the lads were playing. When they got ahead, they are very good defensively and they have the experience to grind out another clean sheet.”
With all of the bottom three losing this evening, finishing 11th remains in the Jags hands with a trip to Dundee on Saturday.
“That’s the only positive to take. It is still in our own hands and if we go to Dens Park on Saturday and win then Ross County can’t catch us. It’s disappointing because the results went for us tonight and if we had got the win, or even a draw, we could have gone to Dundee with a chance of catching Hamilton but that’s gone now.
“It’s unrealistic to expect us to catch Hamilton Accies due to the goal difference swing but we can make sure that we go into the playoffs with a positive result. We’ve got to believe we can go there and win the game.”
A more in depth video interview with Alan Archibald is available now to Jagzone subscribers and will be followed by reaction from Paul McGinn. Log in now to see it as soon as it is available.
Jagzone subscribers will be able to rewatch the full 90 minutes soon
Highlights will be added shortly and will be free for Jagzone subscribers.
For a full list of all the great content you can access from just £5.99 per month as a Jagzone member, click here.
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.
