Wed 2 March, 2016
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership 
McDiarmid Park, Perth.Chris Kane 67′
Callum Booth 6′
Steven Lawless 13′
SPFL Ladbrokes Premiership
Wed 2 March, 2016. Kick Off: - 19:45
McDiarmid Park, Perth.
Thistle return to action tomorrow night against St Johnstone as Thistle look to grab another three points and climb the Ladbrokes Premiership table. Ptfc.co.uk caught up with manager Alan Archibald to gather his thoughts.
“It’s strange to be playing St Johnstone so soon after meeting them at Firhill, but that’s the way the fixture list has thrown it up. We’ll have played four league games in a month by Thursday, but only faced two different teams, which is quite unusual. We played Motherwell at the start of February and beat them, before they turned us over quite comfortably on Saturday so we’ll have to be wary not to fall into the same trap with St Johnstone.”
The tight nature of the league gives Thistle the opportunity to climb the division, regardless of how other results go on the night.
“If we get a draw, I think we go back up to 9th since Motherwell don’t play until Saturday. On the other hand, we could be just a couple of points above 11th by the time we finish on Wednesday, that’s how close it is. We need to just take care of ourselves and prepare correctly for the task in hand.
“A couple of the St Johnstone players were saying our pitch played better than theirs, so we’ll need to see how it is when we get to McDiarmid Park tomorrow night. We won’t be using the pitch as an excuse and we’ll have to do the basics correct in order to give ourselves the best opportunity to win the game.”
Thistle have a good recent record when netting the first goal in a game, something Archie believes is crucial.
“To get the first goal in Premiership games is absolutely vital and it’s something we’ll need to do on Wednesday night. We’ll need to keep our shape and discipline to make sure that we don’t concede a sloppy goal in a game that will be determined by very small margins.
“On Saturday it was a mistake that cost us the penalty, and ultimately the first goal and we’ll need to be fully switched on during the early stages of the game. To grab the first goal is key and we’ll need to win all of the knock downs and second balls to give us the chance to snatch it. Its little things like that which can determine games and hopefully give us a win.”
Finally the gaffer concluded with his team news.
“Christie Elliott missed training on Monday through illness and we’ve got a couple carrying knocks that we’ll give every chance to make the game on Wednesday night. We’ll assess our options and we might rotate the team slightly to freshen it up as we are in the middle of a heavy run of fixtures.”
Thistle travelled to Perth to take on St Johnstone looking to defeat the Saints for the third time the season. The sides had last met eight days ago at Firhill when goals from Kris Doolan and David Amoo sealed a 2-0 success at Firhill and the side were looking to gain another three valuable points.
Manager Alan Archibald made four changes to the side which fell to defeat in Motherwell on Saturday. Injury denied him the continuity of the same defence with Frederic Frans being replaced by Liam Lindsay. David Amoo, having greatly impressed in his substitute appearances makes a start in place of Christie Elliott. Aidan Nesbitt dropped to the bench to give Sean Welsh another opportunity in midfield while Mathias Pogba, so effective against St Johnstone last Tuesday night leads the line ahead of Kris Doolan.
Thistle got off to a dream start when Callum Booth, fresh from his first Thistle strike on Saturday, bagged his second. Stuart Bannigan spread the ball wide to Booth on the corner of the box. After looking to have lost the opportunity to have a go, he cut the ball onto his right foot to send a curled effort across Mannus and into the corner of the net.
Thistle were finding plenty of space in the St Johnstone half in the early stages and doubled their lead after only 13 minutes. Steven Lawless, who scored a screamer on his last visit to McDiarmid Park, found space on the edge of the box and he fired a low drive beyond the reach of Alan Mannus.
Thistle were full of confidence and Welsh was next to have a go but his drive fired high over the cross bar. Steven Lawless looked unplayable in the first half and from one of his surging drives, he was fouled by Anderson on the edge of the box. Sean Welsh produced a terrific full length save from Alan Mannus who tipped it around the post for a corner.
Thistle were dominating the early proceedings with Lawless forcing another excellent save from Mannus when the ball dropped to him on the edge of the penalty area. The only disappointment from the first half was that the side only had two goals to show for their effort.
St Johnstone made a half time substitution, introducing Kane in a bid to get back into the game and Thistle had to guard against the youngster. Thistle defended extremely well, restricting St Johnstone to long range efforts while also proving a threat on the break. Mathias Pogba worked a tireless shift up front as Thistle looked to get a third goal on the break.
Sean Welsh glanced a header into the arms of Alan Mannus from a cross as Thistle looked to put the seal on the game, but St Johnstone were to bag the next goal. Darnell Fisher fired over a harmless looking cross for Chris Kane to bundle the ball home from close range and fire the home side lifeline.
Saints took a lot of confidence from the goal and piled the pressure on Thistle for the equalising goal. Swanson and Wotherspoon fired off target from distance before Thistle were gradually able to take the sting out of the ascendancy.
Thistle were still dangerous on the break and could have added a third goal through Welsh. Stuart Bannigan picked up the ball just inside the Thistle half and, spurred on by the driving run of Welsh, played the ball right into the path of the midfielder who fired straight at Alan Mannus.
Pogba’s last impact on the pitch was to clear a dangerous St Johnstone free kick as all Thistle bodies defended deep to keep the lead for the Jags. He was replaced by Kris Doolan with five minutes to go, with the substitute almost having another immediate impact. He burst through the defence to face Alan Mannus once more. He fired a right footed effort towards goal which spun off the goalkeeper before a recovering defender hooked the ball off the line.
Steven Lawless had a tremendous game, getting hacked down consistently by St Johnstone bodies before having to come off with just a couple of minutes of the ninety to go.
With five minutes of injury time to navigate Thistle had to defend well and kept the ball deep in the St Johnstone half at times to see out the challenge. Craig Thomson blew the full time whistle to signal a fourth successive victory against St Johnstone, a first for the club, that saw the club climb to 7th in the Ladbrokes Premiership table.
It was a delighted Alan Archibald who spoke to ptfc.co.uk shortly after the full time whistle, having seen his side secureall three points against St Johnstone.
“It’s good to see the side going back to doing the basics and that was the foundation of our success tonight. Everything we did poorly on Saturday, we did well tonight. On Saturday, Motherwell looked hungrier than us and that certainly wasn’t the case this evening.
“We set the tempo early on and gave ourselves a platform to defend. We conceded a poor goal in the second half and that gave a few nervy moments for the next 10-15 minutes but we got back in control and we were able to see the game out in relative comfort.”
Thistle were 2-0 up inside 12 minutes courtesy of strikes from Callum Booth and Steven Lawless and the gaffer was pleased with bth goals.
“It was great to get an early lead. Callum has shown great awareness to cut inside and hit it with his right foot as he is getting closed down. If it doesn’t find the back of the net, it’s probably going to fall to one of our other attackers so it’s a great ball to fire across the box. Lawless has developed a good habit of scoring great goals here, and his strike was a good quality one to double the lead.
“We know in this league that getting the first goal is vital. I think the last time we scored the first goal and lost was when we played St Mirren in September 2014 so it’s a great record to have and it shows our defensive solidity as we look to pick up points and climb the league.”
The result tonight fires Thistle up to 7th place in the league, but Archie is still keeping a keen eye on the sides below us.
“It’s a great three points to get but I’m not going to get carried away. We won last Tuesday and followed it up with a defeat and there is every possibility we could do the same again, although we obviously hope we don’t. We’re six points ahead of Kilmarnock, with a better goal difference, but the way this league works we could be back within touching distance of them in a couple of games. It really is that close.
“We’re looking up to catch the sides above us but we are now going into a run of three incredibly tough fixtures in seven days, which will prove a very difficult time for us. We can go into thegames and enjoy them without any pressure to pick up points and we’ll see where it leaves us.”
Finally the manager had a word for the travelling Thistle support.
“I thought the Thistle fans were incredible tonight. They never stopped supporting the side and got behind them when they were starting to wobble just after St Johnstone scored their goal. We’re pleased to send them home happy and hopefully it makes up, in some small way, for the disappointment they suffered on Saturday when they backed us in huge numbers again.”
