Sat 19 August, 2017
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership 
McDiarmid Park, PerthSPFL Ladbrokes Premiership
Sat 19 August, 2017. Kick Off: - 15:00
McDiarmid Park, Perth
Supporter Information:
Admission Information:
Partick Thistle fans will be located in the north stand as usual and Jags season ticket
Adults: £23
Concessions (65 and over): £14
13-18 year olds: £13
Accompanied kids aged 12 and under: Free
Disabled Supporters
The arrangements for wheelchair/ambulant fans is the same as for the League Cup match apart from the ticket price being £13 for ambulant and wheelchair users.
St Johnstone have requested names of fans going. If you intend going to the match please contact
If you require a car parking space then you can either contact and supply your registration number or phone St Johnstone directly on 01738 459090. There is now a cost for parking of £5.
Supporters’ Buses:
City Centre Branch:
Pick ups:
Q Club – 11:20
Station Bar – 11:30
Non members welcome.
Please call 07979496154 or email to book.
Jordanhill Branch:
Pick ups:
Jordanhill Station – 13:00
Thornwood Bar – 13:05
Prices:
£16 for adults
£8 for concessions
All Jags fans are welcome but booking is essential.
For seats please contact Alistair on 07817612563 or email
For general enquires please contact Iain on 07779668357 or email
Jordanhill Branch Membership Information:
Jordanhill Branch Membership covers all published pre-split Ladbrokes Premiership league away games, except the visit to Ibrox where no bus will run.
Members will benefit from reduced rates for any away cup games.
As in previous seasons, membership can be paid in one installment or over the course of the season. However, we appeal for consistent payments as the buses require to be paid for on each away match day.
Membership costs are as follows:
Adult – £200
Student/Retired/Unemployed – £115
School Attenders – £80
Parent & Child – £240
For more information please contact Iain at
North-West Branch:
Pick ups:
Milngavie Station – 12:30
Esquire House – 12:50
Maryhill Community Halls – 13:00
Prices:
£16 for adults
£10 for concessions.
For seats non-members should e-mail
North-West Branch Membership Information:
Non-members intending to travel regularly should consider joining the North-West since the benefits are considerable.
The North-West will run a bus to every away Betfred Cup, Ladbrokes Premiership and Scottish Cup fixture played outwith Glasgow in season 2017-18.
No need to book seats for each game, your place is guaranteed!
A fixed fee (full fare £270, concession fare £150) can be paid in installments throughout the season. This fee has been held at the same level as in 2016-17.
To become a North-West Branch member please e-mail
Having played on Friday night last weekend, Alan Archibald has had a little bit longer to consider his side’s 1-0 defeat to Celtic, the Jags gaffer knows his side need no further motivation for a tough match in Perth this Saturday.
“There were a lot of positives to take from the performance last Friday night, especially when you see how good they were on Wednesday. They didn’t really cut us open which was very pleasing, they had to work for their chances and we stayed in the game.
“I know it can be frustrating for our fans at times when we sit in and stop them playing but it’s vital that you don’t get cut open, especially in the early stages. It was good defending from the lads and certainly better than we saw at Easter Road so that was very encouraging.”
Having played St Johnstone less than a fortnight ago the trip is one everybody is already familiar with this season. Despite an excellent performance and resounding victory the last time out Archibald knows things will be tougher come Saturday.
“It’s going to be a tough game but we can certainly take heart from the Betfred Cup game last week, a game in which we played very well. It will be harder though – it always is when you play a team twice in a short amount of time. They’ll be full of confidence after another great result at the weekend but we’ll just need to do everything we can to nullify that threat early on by performing at the level we know we are capable of.”
There were two new additions for the squad which faced Celtic on Friday and it’s fair to say Archie was pleased with his latest acquisitions.
“We’re delighted to get them on board. We only got their medicals done on the Friday morning so we didn’t want to put them both in straight away. We put Conor in from the start though and he did really well.
“They both know the league, they know our players and how we want to play and most importantly they know the opposition. That familiarity is so valuable in new players and should mean they don’t take long to bed in.
“The good thing is that I think they are both out to prove a point and you can see that real hunger in them all the time. I hope that will only go to motivate them further and that hunger gets converted to goals sooner rather than later.
“The combination of attacking players gives us a number of very strong and very different options which isn’t something we’ve always had, As I say, it’s great to get them in and we look forward to seeing how they get on.”
Despite his team currently sitting on no points the Jags boss remains confident in his side’s ability.
“It’s never a good place to be when your team is sat on zero points and we want to make that right as soon as possible. We’ve had a tough start and we knew the reality of just how tough our first couple of games would be but now we really need to start getting points on the board, hopefully that all begins on Saturday.”
More exclusive preview interviews with Ryan Edwards Niall Keown and Jags gaffer, Alan Archibald are now available to Jagzone subscribers – log in now to see them.
Jagzone members will also be able to watch extended highlights of the game.
Can’t make it to McDiarmid Park? Jagzone members can listen to live audio commentary of the match. JagZoneLIVE begins at 2:30pm on Saturday.
For a full list of all the great content you can access from just £5.99 per month as a Jagzone member, click here.
Alan has committed, will you join him? 2017/18 season tickets are still on sale.
Article Copyright © 2017. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to ptfc.co.uk.
Partick Thistle’s fruitless start to the 2017/18 Ladbrokes Premiership season continued today with a 1-0 defeat by St. Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. Losses to Hibs and Celtic along with today’s defeat leaves Thistle without a point three games in. In a scrappy game, one moment of quality was enough to separate the Jags and the Saints. Michael O’Halloran latched onto an incisive through ball and found the net via the post. Thistle boss, Alan Archibald, spoke to ptfc.co.uk after the game.
In previous meetings with St. Johnstone, the first goal is often scored by the eventual winners and Alan Archibald was upset that his side fell behind first.
“I thought that St. Johnstone were the better team in the first half. They won the midfield battles and we lost a poor goal from our perspective. We lost the first goal and everyone knows how difficult it is to break St. Johnstone down when they get in front.”
Archie ended up putting Kris Doolan and Conor Sammon on up front as well as having Miles Storey on and the gaffer admits it got to a point where he was just trying to inject some attacking threat into the team.
“We wanted to create danger. Sometimes you just have to mix things up and change how you play when your plan A isn’t quite working. Miles went out wide but that’s nothing new to him. Also, Callum Booth was forced off so that changed things a bit in terms of who we could bring on. Towards the end, we were just trying to change the game and create some chances but, unfortunately, it didn’t quite work for us.”
During the second half, Thistle were claiming for a penalty when Miles Storey’s pass came off the arm of Murray Davidson. It definitely struck the midfielder’s arm but the gaffer doesn’t think his side can feel aggrieved as it was a tough call.
“You see them given sometimes. It comes off his arm but it’s a short distance and his arm is trailing behind his body. Sometimes those are given, sometimes there not but I have no qualms, we should have done more to get back into the game.”
Despite an incredibly difficult start to the Premiership season, Alan doesn’t think his team can use that as an excuse when coming up against good sides.
“We want to get off the mark. We’ve got Aberdeen next so it doesn’t get any easier. We knew that we had a tough start going into the season but that doesn’t excuse us from putting everything into games. It doesn’t matter how difficult the games are, we have to try to get some points on the board.”
Although his side are rooted to the foot of the table, Archie believes his side have enough character and quality to climb the table soon.
“We have a squad of good lads and good characters who I know can get us out of this position. I don’t think the league will be as forgiving this year as previous campaigns when we’ve started slowly because there are more good teams than ever.”
Alan and his squad now begin preparations for next Saturday’s meeting with Aberdeen. Kick-off is 15:00 at Firhill.
A more in depth video interview with Alan Archibald is available now to Jagzone subscribers and will be followed by reaction from Abdul Osman and Miles Storey. Log in now to see it as soon as it is available.
Jagzone subscribers can rewatch the full 90 minutes soon.
Highlights will be added shortly and will be free for Jagzone subscribers.
For a full list of all the great content you can access from just £5.99 per month as a Jagzone member, click here.
Article Copyright © 2017. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to ptfc.co.uk.
Game over here in Perth as a single Michael O'Halloran goal is enough to win the game as once again the first goal is scored by the victors.
There will be four added minutes.
Some decent play between Sammon and Doolan gets the ball to Storey. The no. 39 then tries to find the far corner with a whipped shot but he shoots over.
Storey is cautioned for throwing the ball after he was denied a penalty by Barry Cook. The ball seemed to hit Davidson's arm in the box but nothing was given and the Saints won a free-kick in the aftermath.
Niall Keown tries a shot from 35 yards and it has to be tipped over by Mannus. Thistle slowly improving.
O'Halloran gets in behind Nitriansky and past Turnbull before shooting but he blazes an attempt high and wide from 15 yards.
After a clash with Alan Mannus, Callum Booth is forced off with an injury.
Elliott cuts inside and finds Erskine with a pass. The no. 10 then turns and lays the ball off to Lawless. Lawless shoots powerfully on goal but Mannus is behind it and the rebound is cleared.
Scougall gets away from Booth and cuts the ball back to MacLean on the edge of the box. MacLean shoots but his shot is deflected behind for a corner.
A Scougall cross isn't cleared by the Jags defence and pinballs in the box. Just as it looks like a Saints player will just slam it home, Christie Elliott gets a toe to it and gets the ball away from danger.
The Saints get the second 45 underway.
All in all, a fairly balanced half here at McDiarmid Park.
Neither team have created much with passing quality scarce but one excellent pass from Steven Anderson splits the sides at the break.
Miles Storey has shown bits of quality but the service to him has been generally poor. The defence has coped well with St. Johnstone's lofted balls but the dribbling and drive of Saints' goalscorer, Michael O'Halloran, has caused problems.
Better interplay is needed in the second half if the Jags are to get anything from the game.
Lawless is booked for fouling O'Halloran as Saints countered.
Michael O'Halloran gets to the by-line and cuts it back. He finds MacLean who controls before shooting. His effort is too central and Cerny tips it over the bar.
Steven Anderson slots a perfectly weighted through ball into O'Halloran who is in space in the box. The no. 11 shoots first time and finds the net, off the post.
A quick break from Thistle leads to Miles Storey finding Chris Erskine with a cut-back. Erskine is 25 yards out and skips past one challenge before shooting.
His effort is saved by Mannus but the 'keeper can't hold. Ryan Edwards is in and around the six-yard box but is beaten to the ball by Anderson, who clears.
Both sides are struggling to carve open their opposition.
St. Johnstone are often looking for Michael O'Halloran, for a spark, but he hasn't been able to create anything yet.
A St. Johnstone free-kick finds Anderson he flicks it on but it eventually lands at the feet of Shaughnessy. The no. 5 shoots but it's straight at Cerny and he parries before collecting.
A weak backpass by Anderson is pressured by Miles Storey. Mannus gets to it first but has to put it out for a throw.
The game has a very scrappy feel in the opening stages with neither team getting the ball down and passing it around to great effect.
Thistle get things underway here in Perth with Miles Storey kicking off.
Welcome to the ptfc.co.uk text commentary for Partick Thistle's trip to Perth to take on St. Johnstone.
Thistle come into the game having procured no points from their first two league fixtures of the season against Hibs and Celtic. However, in between those two defeats, Thistle found success in the Betfred Cup second round. Their opponents last tuesday were today's adverseries, St. Johnstone.
The game, like this afternoon's, was played at McDiarmid Park and on the night, three second half goals gave the Jags a 3-0 win. Steven Lawless opened the scoring from the spot after Kevin Nisbet was fouled in the box. Ryan Edwards curled home a spectacular second as he netted for the first time this season. The third and final goal came in inury time as Chris Erskine beat Alan Mannus with a left-footed shot across goal.
Since that meeting Thistle have added to their squad with Conor Sammon and Miles Storey both signing last Friday before making debuts against Celtic.
Tomas Cerny starts in goal today behind the same back four that started against Celtic - Elliott, Keown, Turnbull and Booth. Adam Barton and Abdul Osman are the sitting midfielders as Ryan Edwards, Chris Erskine and Steven Lawless form a dangerous attacking-midfield trio. Miles Storey makes his first start up-front for the Jags after featuring as a substitute last friday against the Hoops.
On the bench, there are plenty of options for Alan Archibald. Ryan Scully, Daniel Devine, Milan Nitrainsky, Stuart Bannigan, Blair Spittal, Conor Sammon and Kris Doolan are all in the dugout as part of what might be the Jags strongest bench since promotion.
Kick-off is near and the sun is out, for now, as Thistle prepare for battle.