Saturday 23rd April, 2016 at 3:33pm
Thistle lost their first post-split fixture to Dundee, with a Kane Hemmings double securing the three points for the Dens Parkside. Manager Alan Archibald spoke to ptfc.co.uk shortly after the full time whistle.
“I thought our second half performance was deserving of at least a point. We started the first half well but we couldn’t get the goal when we were on top and fell out of the game when Dundee grabbed the opener.
“Dundee have a good record against us since they returned to the Premiership and they have always scored late goals against us, today was another example of that. I thought we were going to go on and get a draw, or maybe even snatch the win but it wasn’t to be.”
Kris Doolan bagged his 10th goal of the season to drag Thistle level and Archie was delighted to see the talisman hit double figures once again.
“It’s great for Dools to hit 10 once again. As a club we set targets and we look for our strikers to hit double figures and he has been able to do that over the last few years which has been key to us staying in the league. He’s got four games remaining so there is no reason why he can’t add a few more between now and the end of the season.”
Thistle performed well in a game that they were without five first team players, something that the manager was pleased with.
“It shows we’ve got a bit of depth in the squad. We were missing two first choice defensive players in Seaborne and Booth but we have the cover to cope with it. We shuffled the defence around a bit putting Dumbuya at left back to match up against Greg Stewart, who is a danger for Dundee, and I think he didwell.
“I felt the whole team played well, particularly second half, and the two goals we conceded were scored by an in-form, clinical striker. We’ll have to go back to training and look at what we did well, and what we didn’t to prepare for Inverness next week. We know we’ll have the suspended duo back so that will ease the selection burden a bit.”
Thistle remain in a strong position with four games remaining but Alan is keen to get safety secured as quickly as possible to continue preparations for the next campaign.
“We’re not mathematically safe yet so we have to get the points that make us secure in the league. We’ve had to put off plans for next season a little as we want to make absolutely sure we’ll be playing in the Premiership.
“We’ve got four games left and every one of them will be a battle. We face Inverness next week and we’ll be looking to bounce back from today’s disappointment with a win.”
