Saturday 22nd August, 2015 at 2:22pm
As Alan Archibald prepares to take his team through their final preparations ahead of tomorrow’s clash away to Hearts, the Firhill gaffer spent 10 minutes speaking to ptfc.co.uk about the tie against the Ladbrokes Premiership new boys.
“Hearts are absolutely flying at the moment. I’ve caught a couple of their games and they’re scoring plenty of goals. We’ve nothing to fear though and I’ll not be expecting our lads to go into the match with any trepidation. Hearts have been scoring goals but we now have two clean sheets in four games and have looked strong at the back too.
“St Johnstone ran them very close in the first match and we need to look at that and see if we can do the same.”
Alan has not been without his troubles to seek as injuries have left him with low numbers at training this week.
“We’ve had a few knocks in training this week which has meant we’ve been quite low on numbers. We know we are probably still a couple of players short in key areas and that is something we’ll be looking to rectify in the coming weeks. We’re working hard to get a couple of bodies in as soon as possible but we don’t have anything over the line yet.”
Thistle fans should have fantastic memories of Tynecastle as it was the stadium at which the Jags clinched their Premiership survival at the end of the 2013/14 season.
“It really is a great place to go and I don’t know a footballer who doesn’t enjoy playing there. It will be a full house on Saturday and the atmosphere should be fantastic. Our fans will have great memories from the end of the 2013/14 season and I hope we can replicate those scenes come full time on Saturday.”
With a couple of injury problems Thistle will be down to the bare bones when they travel to Edinburgh but Archie is confident he will have a strong enough side come kick off on Saturday.
“We do have a few who are struggling but we’ll be able to fill our bench and it will just be down to a few of the younger guys to step up to the mark. Christie Elliott is out and Lawless and Abdul are both struggling but we’re hopeful they’ll be fit to play on Saturday. Liam Lindsay is the only other one who will miss out as he was sent off against Kilmarnock.
