Tue 23 February, 2016
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership 
Firhill Stadium, Glasgow.Kris Doolan 71′
David Amoo 87′
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership
Tue 23 February, 2016. Kick Off: - 19:45
Firhill Stadium, Glasgow.
Thistle look to return from three weeks off from league business with a game against St Johnstone tonight. Ptfc.co.uk caught up with Alan Archibald to get his thoughts.
“It’s very frustrating to have games continually called off, but there is nothing we can do about the weather. It’s been dry all of Monday, and the forecast is very good for Tuesday so we are confident that we will be able to get back on the pitch come Tuesday night.
“We’ve been slightly unfortunate with the postponements. When we were due to play Hearts away, our pitch was fine and if it had been a home game, it would have been on. It’s frustrating and we now have a fixture pile up which we’ll have to work through over the next month.”
The side have been training hard in preparation for tonight’s game and Archie admits the players are just desperate to get on the pitch.
“It’s hard for the players as we prepare a game plan for each opposition. They work hard on it all week and when the day of the game comes, it all goes out the window. Players just want to play games.
“We’ve still got a group of players who went through the backlog when we were going for promotion a few seasons ago and we as a staff know how to handle it. Everybody will be involved and there will be an element of rotation to keep players fresh and make sure we can field the strongest line up in every game.”
Thistle sit in 10th position and know that a draw will lift the side up to 8th, something that Alan is sure will incentivise the side for tonight’s match.
“The league is so tight that we know if we can string a few results together we’ll go flying up the table. A point tonight takes us to 8th, and we’d still have games in hand so the players need no better motivation to go out and perform.
“The games in hand mean nothing until we pick up points in them. We know where points can take us in this division but we still have to go out and accumulate them to get ourselves to where we want to be.”
Alan has almost a full squad to pick from once again ahead of this evening’s game.
“It’s been quite funny that earlier in the season we had to fill the bench with young players, but our recent postponements have been when our squad has been at our strongest. Players who have had knocks or niggles will have had the opportunity to shake them off and be fully fit.
“The only player who will definitely miss out is Mustapha Dumbuya. He’s been out for three weeks now and we’re not entirely sure how much longer he’ll miss out for, but tonight will be too soon for him. We’ve got good depth in Gary Miller and Christie Elliott who will be able to slot in for him.”
Thistle returned to league action for the first time in three weeks having suffered consecutive postponements in Ladbrokes Premiership. With two dry days leading up to the game there were no doubts surrounding the game and the Firhill pitch, while certainly not the greenest surface ever seen, was certainly more than passable.
Alan Archibald made three changes to the side which crashed out of the Scottish Cup to Dundee United. Mathias Pogba replaced Kris Doolan up front as manager Alan Archibald looked to change things in the attacking front, while also introducing a debut for deadline day loanee Aidan Nesbitt. Christie Elliott also came into the starting line up.
The game got off to a quiet start with both sides looking to get themselves used to the conditions, with Mathias Pogba doing well to hold the ball up for Thistle. His physicality was proving a useful asset for Thistle as the side looked to push higher up the pitch.
It was the visitors, however, who had the first effort on goal with Cerny having to be smart to tip a Danny Swanson effort around the post for a corner kick.
The first half was a game of few chances, with free kicks disrupting the play on a regular basis. The better of the chances fell to St Johnstone but neither goalkeeper was seriously tested for the remainder as Thistle entered halftime at a 0-0 scoreline for the ninth time in 10 games.
Thistle came out sharper in the second half with Pogba doing his best to open the scoring. An early effort was well saved by Mannus. A short corner routine saw Lawless set up Frans who crashed a header off the bar, via an instinctive save from the goalkeeper. As Saints hacked the ball clear, Callum Booth tried a swerving effort from distance which Mannus did just enough to claw away.
Thistle were beginning to find form in the second period and young loanee Aidan Nesbitt was having an influential impact on proceedings. He picked up the ball just inside the St Johnstone half and showed absolutely no fear to advance deep into the half, where his shot was deflected wide for a corner kick.
Lawless was thriving alongside the creative Nesbitt and he was next to have an effort which was well saved by Mannus after Pogba had done well to nod the ball down. Pogba put in a terrific shift causing havoc for the St Johnstone defence before being replaced by Kris Doolan with 20 minutes to go.
Doolan had been on the pitch less than a minute when a powerful Osman challenge spun high in the air in the striker’s direction. Doolan judged the flight of the ball perfectly and controlled it well before firing a powerful shot beyond Mannus with only his second touch to make a sensational start to the game from his perspective.
With Thistle a goal up, Saints started to push players forward looking for the equaliser, allowing Christie Elliott and David Amoo, when he came on as a substitute for Nesbitt who received a standing ovation from the majority of the Thistle crowd, to break away with pace against a tiring St Johnstone defence.
Callum Booth was determined to grab his first Thistle goal as the night got colder, but once again Mannus was more than equal to his effort.
With just a few minutes to go, Thistle grabbed the second and decisive goal in the contest. Gary Miller put in a strong challenge to win the ball just outside his penalty area, with the loose ball falling in the direction of Steven Lawless. The diminutive winger played the ball through to Amoo who ran straight at the St Johnstone defence. With defenders backing off him, the winger used his pace to tear away from covering players, with Steven Lawless making an excellent run to pull away defending players from him. As he approached the box, Amoo curled a left footed effort away from Mannus to put the seal on a terrific Thistle win.
Thistle navigated three minutes of injury time with ease to grab their third Ladbrokes Premiership clean sheet in a row, and record back to back wins to send the side flying to 8th position in the league.
After a very impressive and resolute performance from his Thistle side, Alan Archibald was a very satisfied man when he spoke to ptfc.co.uk after Tuesday night’s victory over St Johnstone.
“I certainly thought we grew into the game. I don’t think you’re ever sure how a team will go out and play when there has been such a gap between fixtures but I thought we handled it very well against a strong side.
“We showed real drive and determination in parts of that game today and I think we probably edged the match – although it was certainly a tight contest. As the game went on we wereable to get our creative guys on the ball and that made a big difference in the closing stages for us.”
Archibald set his stall out from the very start, playing a creative, attacking team and it was a move he feels was required to break down a stubborn defence.
“We gave Aidan Nesbitt his debut today and I thought he didwell. Like the rest of the team he took a little time to work himself into the match but after that he worked the ball into great areas and was full of good running. He’s certainly a talent and hopefully he can do well for us between now and the end of the season.
“We needed to make sure we got service in behind Pogba today and that’s what we thought both Aidan and Christie Elliott did for us today. I thought Christie was outstanding today and looked so powerful on the ball. He’s going to be like a new signing for us now he’s back fully fit and we’re going to need our full squad to deal with the run of games we’re going to have between now and the end of the season.”With the game still locked at 0-0 on the 70 minute mark, Doolan replaced Pogba and made an instant impact, scoring the opener after just 43 seconds. David Amoo then replaced Nesbitt nine minutes later and added the second rounding off a very successful set of substitutes for the Jags boss.
“I wish it was always that easy! We now have a squad of players where we have real options coming off the bench, players who can come on and really hurt opposition players. Kris and David are two players who are always ready to make a difference and they showed that tonight with two excellent goals.
“We need to take the momentum from this game into the rest of our fixtures, we now have two games next week including another against tonight’s opponents so we need to focus and make sure we pick up as many points as we can. I would love to say we are looking up the way now but the reality is that a couple of bad results and we’re right back down the wrong end of the table. We’ll keep working hard and make sure we do what we can to take as many points as we can from our games in hand.”
