Partick Thistle v Ross County – 10th May 2014

Midweek results mean that tomorrow’s fixture with Ross County won’t be as tense and nervous as it might have been but although both clubs have secured their Premiership status there is still much to play for tomorrow.
Thistle currently sit in 7th position in the Premiership; not since season 1980-81 when The Jags finished in 6th position in the old Premier League has a Thistle side finished in a higher league position. To finish, therefore, in our highest league position for 33 years would be a fitting end to what has been a remarkable season.
For the final time pre-match this season [link:HOME] caught up with manager Alan Archibald have Friday’s training session for his thoughts on the 90 minutes ahead.
“It will be nice to be able to relax and enjoy the occasion but we are also desperate to win the game. We have the chance to finish the season in 7th position and its’ over 30 years since a Thistle side would have finished so high in the league and it would be a great achievement. Unfortunately we are really down to the bare bones in terms of players for the game tomorrow.”
Alan continued;
“The long term injured players are obviously still out and Prince Buaben won’t make the game tomorrow. We’ve also doubts over Stuart Bannigan and Aaron Taylor-Sinclair. I would like to give some game time to the likes of David Wilson and George Moncur who has been unlucky not to have been involved more since we brought him up here on loan. It will depend ultimately on precisely what kind of shape the team takes tomorrow.”
With safety assured plans are already being made for next season. Said the Thistle manager;
“We’ve had plans in our heads for some time but you can’t really do anything until you are over that finishing line. We can now start to do that. We can now start to plan what we are going to do pre-season and can start to target players that we want to bring in. I think everyone saw the benefit we’ve had from the players we brought in during January.”
Which leads nicely into the question of whether any of the loan singings will be remaining at the Club?
“It’s really down to the parent clubs”, said Alan before continuing;
“That’s certainly the case with Lyle Taylor; it’s really down to Sheffield United in the first instance. Lyle is, I think, the kind of player that anyone in the Premiership would be interested in but the advantage that we have is that he’s been up here and has really enjoyed his football and the training. He loves scoring goals and he plays the game with a smile on his face. His attitude has been brilliant and the thing is he probably isn’t quite 100% fit as pre-season was all a bit disjointed for him.”
Our final Match Preview of the season couldn’t be completed without a word about the amazing support that the team have received this season.
“The fans really have been fantastic this season and I think their support on Wednesday night at Tynecastle just clarified that fact. We were struggling in the first half and apart from our goal we didn’t really give them much to shout about but they kept on singing; that’s all that we could hear. I’m not sure that the fans of every team would have given their players that kind of support; others might have turned against their team. The last thing you want with a young squad, like we have ,is to have players scared to get on the ball and that usually comes about if there is a negative reaction or they are getting booed. Our fans have, I’m sure, been frustrated at times especially when we’ve had a sticky spell but they’ve been right behind the players from the very start and that has made a big difference. We are determined to round the season off with a win for them tomorrow.”
Partick Thistle Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W            D             L              F              A
2              2              1              10           9
Scorers Season 2013-2014
Kris Doolan 11
Kallum Higginbotham 8
Lyle Taylor 6
Steven Lawless 5
Aaron Muirhead 4
Christie Elliott 3
Conrad Balatoni 2
Chris Erskine 2
Gary Fraser 2
Lee Mair 2
Aaron Taylor-Sinclair 2
Ross Forbes 1
Jordan McMillan 1
Stephen O’Donnell 1
Last Game
Scottish Premiership
Wednesday May 7th 2014
Hearts 2, Partick Thistle 4
Ross County Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W            D             L              F              A
2              0              3              4              6
Scorers Season 2013-2014
Richard Brittain 8
Melvin De Leeuw 8
Filip Kiss 6
Yoann Arquin 3
Graham Carey 3
Yann Songo’o 3
Stuart Kettlewell 2
Rocco Quinn 2
Ivan Sproule 2
Scott Boyd 1
Alex Cooper 1
Ben Gordon 1
Darren Maatsen 1
Orhan Mustafi 1
Steve Saunders 1
Last Game
Scottish Premiership
Tuesday May 6th 2014
Ross County 1, Hibs 0
Last Meeting
Scottish Premiership
Saturday March 1st 2014
Ross County 1, Partick Thistle 1
Teams
County: Brown, Kovacevic, Kettlewell, Boyd, Brittain, Kiss, Tidser (Carey), Slew (De Leeuw), Oikonomou, Arquin, Songo’o.
Thistle: Gallacher, O’Donnell, Taylor-Sinclair, Balatoni, Bannigan, Buaben, Mair, Taylor (Doolan), Fraser, Higginbotham, Erskine.
Scorers
County: Brittain (14)
Thistle: Higginbotham (8)
Crowd: 3,441
Match Details
Scottish Premiership
Saturday May 10th 2014
Partick Thistle v Ross County
Kick-off: 12:15pm
Admission Details
Match Officials
Referee: Bobby Madden
Assistant Referees: Willie Conquer and Michael Banks
Fourth Official: Kevin Graham
Weekend’s Other Fixtures
Scottish Premiership
Aberdeen v Motherwell (Sunday)
Celtic v Dundee United (Sunday)
Hibernian v Kilmarnock (Saturday)
Inverness Caledonian Thistle v St Johnstone (Sunday)
St Mirren v Hearts (Saturday)
PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF QUARTER-FINAL SECOND LEG
Falkirk v Queen of the South (Saturday)