Tuesday 28th October, 2014 at 1:14am
As everybody associated with Partick Thistle looks forward to a League Cup quarter final against the league champions, Thistle boss, Alan Archibald knows that a place in the semi finals is well within the Jags’ reach.
“I think everyone is writing us off because it’s against Celtic but it’s a great opportunity for the lads. We said that after the last round when we battled to a win over St Mirren – it is a real chance for this football club to go out and get to a cup semi final.
“We certainly believe in ourselves and know that, if we play as well as we know we can, there is every chance that we can get our name in the pot for the semis. A decent cup run is long overdue for this club and we’ve certainly emphasised that with the boys during training this week.”
It is clear that the headline writers, along with many Scottish football fans, are looking at the possibility of an Old Firm semi final but Archie is out to spoil the party.
“I think some of the media have already written us off and a lot of people seem to already be looking forward to a Celtic Rangers tie in the semi final but we don’t accept that. We know we have a chance of making a semi final, you only have to look at Morton last year to see that it is possible and we’ll certainly be taking hope from that.”
One of the big advantages that Celtic have over Thistle is the size of squad which makes it difficult to know exactly how they are going to set up.
“Unlike a lot of teams, you rarely know what you’re going to get from Celtic. They change formation from game to game and have a lot of different high quality players to call upon. I don’t think the manager knows his best team yet so all of his players will be out to prove a point.
“I was at the game between Kilmarnock and Celtic at the weekend and the way Killie took the game to Celtic was very encouraging. I think before the red card they went out and matched them, that is exactly what we need to be looking to do. We can take heart from what Killie were able to do as well as what teams like Motherwell and Hamilton have managed against them already this season.”
There won’t be too many changes from the Thistle team that drew with St Johnstone at the weekend.
“We’ll be much the same as Saturday, Sean Welsh and Gary Fraser both played in the Development League on Monday. Kallum Higginbotham might make the game but it really is too early to tell at this stage, we’ll see how he reacts after training and take it from there.”
