Sat 12 December, 2015
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership 
Tannadice Park, Dundee.
Kris Doolan 51′
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership
Sat 12 December, 2015. Kick Off: - 15:00
Tannadice Park, Dundee.
Summary
The Journey to Tannadice will look extremely familiar to anyone who attended our match against Dundee at Dens Park a few short weeks ago, that’s because the two grounds sit a stone’s throw away from each other, on the same street!
Entry
The travelling Thistle support will be housed in a small section at the end of the Jerry Kerr stand. Usually the top tier is where most go. The view is reasonable with nothing blocking the action. Although 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 is a train every hour that will take you to the City of Discovery. Trains take around an hour and 20 minutes are direct from Glasgow Queen Street. The walk to the stadium is a long one so it may be better to get a taxi to the ground from the station.
Supporters Bus
CITY CENTRE BUS:
Pick Up:
Q Club: 11:20
Station Bar: 11:30
Non members welcome please call 07979496154 to book.
JORDANHILL BUS:
Pick Up:
Jordanhill: 12:30
Thornwood Bar: 12:35
Prices: £18 for adults. £9 for concessions.
Bookings are essential. Contact Alistair on 07817612563 or .
General Enquiries: contact Iain on 07779668357
NORTH WEST BUS:
Pick Up:
Milngavie Station: 12:00
Esquire House: 12:15
Maryhill Community Hall: 12:30
Prices: £17 for adults. £10.50 for concessions(School aged children, unwaged adults, senior citizend & 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.
With the closure of the Forth Road Bridge, Thistle fans attending from Edinburgh will be heavily disrupted. Fans travelling from Glasgow may also find the roads busier than expected and should leave a little earlier to accomodate for this.
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.
Ahead of another vital Ladbrokes Premiership game, ptfc.co.uk caught up with Thistle manager Alan Archibald to gather his thoughts.
“We were disappointed to have our game postponed against Motherwell last weekend. The side has been in good form and we were looking to continue that, especially at home.
“With the game being off I got to take in last weekend’s Kilmarnock v Dundee United fixture and I saw first-hand that Dundee United have improved a lot since we played them at the start of October. Tannadice isn’t a ground we’ve had too much success on over the years, although we won our last game there, but we’ll go into the game with confidence. It’s a real six pointer”
The Ladbrokes Premiership table is a tight division with only five points separating six sides in the middle of the table.
“There isn’t a lot between many of the teams and that is reflected in the compactness of the league table. After our bad start to the season, our first focus was to get back into the pack. We’ve done that now and with all the bottom six sides playing each other this weekend, something has to give. Hopefully we can pick up three points and we’re looking down on them.”
Thistle know all too well the perils of being at the bottom of the league and Archie knows United will be dangerous opponents
“We were down the bottom of the league earlier this season, but have managed to turn it around. Mixu will be looking for his side to do the same. It’s unusual to see them propping up the table as they have had a lot of success in recent years with top half finishes and reaching cup finals. It’s football though, and we saw it last year with Motherwell when they went from second top to second bottom.”
Finally, Alan brought us up to date with tomorrow’s team news
“Christie Elliott is still out long term so he won’t make it. Ryan Stevenson and Steven Lawless have picked up niggles which happens at this time of year, and we’ll give both every chance to prove their fitness ahead of tomorrow’s game.”
Thistle travelled to Tannadice to take on bottom-placed Dundee United, looking for a third consecutive in the Ladbrokes Premiership. The side knew they would be in for a tough afternoon with the Tayside outfit fighting for their lives at the bottom of the division.
Manager Alan Archibald made three changes to the side which had triumphed in style against Kilmarnock a fortnight ago. Tomas Cerny made a return in goal following a spell with injury, Robbie Muirhead was ineligible through the terms of his loan deal and Gary Fraser missed out having picked up an injury late in training on Friday afternoon.
United started the game as the stronger side with Sinama-Pongolle linking up well with Spittal and McKay in the early stages. His impact in the game was curtailed after ten minutes when he appeared to pick up a muscle injury.
Gunning fired over from a free kick on the very edge of the penalty area, while it took a good headed clearance from Kris Doolan to deny the Arabs from a corner kick.
Thistle were struggling to get a grip in the game as United imposed themselves on the midfield and when Thistle did manage to advance forward, poor deliveries squandered the opportunity. The game descended into a sloppy first half with Thistle the more relieved side at the break.
The second half sparked into life early, with Cerny having to react well to a Dixon effort which he saw extremely late on. Thistle broke up the part and after Bannigan picked out Doolan inside the box, the striker showed off his exceptional touch to fire the ball low beyond Szromnik into the corner of the net.
Thistle were high with confidence after the goal and Lawless nearly doubled the lead when his cut back was deflected onto the post via a good save from the goalkeeper. The game was becoming stretched and Thistle had a couple of good opportunities to extend the lead.
Equally, United fired efforts on the Thistle goal but from good positions Rankin shot wide on two occasion. Blair Spittal was the latest to have a dig on goal, but after a deflection, his shot bounced harmlessly wide of goal.
Thistle were becoming increasingly camped inside their own half, but from a Bannigan corner, Seaborne was unable to flick the ball goalwards.
Dundee United were winning lots of corners and from one Morris had a shot which appeared to strike the arm of Lindsay. Referee MacLean was unmoved and waved play on.
It was an extremely nervy finish to the game as Thistle were camped into their penalty area with last ditch clearances and blocks being the order of the day.
After almost four minutes of injury time, the shrill referee’s whistle pierced the air to signal another three precious points for Alan Archibald’s side.
After, arguably, one of the biggest results of the season so far,Alan Archibald was quick to praise his team after a 1-0 victory over basement side, Dundee United. It was a result that tookthe Jags to eighth in the table and put the Maryhill side on exactly the same number of points as they were on at this stage last season. Archie cut an understandably delighted figure as he spoke to ptfc.co.uk.
“After a terrible start it is fantastic to find some consistency and three back to back wins puts us right back into the pack and moves us further away from the bottom two. We knew with this run of fixtures that there was a real chance for us to put a run together but the boys have been tremendous. We didn’t let
early results get us down and I think that is starting to show now.”
Despite the three points it was not a game to remember withfew chances for either sides in the first half.
“It was a horrible game, particularly in the first half, and it tooka goal to open things up. There was a spell where things really opened up and luckily we were the ones who took advantage of it. Doolan has taken a great touch and scored a really good goal from what is little more than a half chance.”
There was a strong shout for a United penalty in the second half and, although Archibald didn’t have a great view, he was relieved the decision went his side’s way.
“I was miles away so really didn’t see it but that is maybe the kind of luck we were missing at the start of the season. We’ve had four or five of those given against us this season so it was nice to maybe get the benefit of the doubt for once.
“The shape United started in is a really hard one to play against. We scrapped and fought for a 1-0 win today and that is just as satisfying as a more comprehensive victory. We might not have played our best but we got the result and that is vital.
“The middle section of this league is really tight so we just need to stay focused so we need to stay aware of what is behind us. The last game against United has really galvanised us and that was where our season turned. We just need to keep working and we’ll keep moving in the right direction.”
