Sunday 14th October, 2012 at 9:02pm
Tomorrow afternoon Partick Thistle have the opportunity to achieve something that no Thistle side has managed for 41 years; reach the Final of a national cup competition.
Cowdenbeath present the not inconsiderable challenge that Thistle will face at Central Park tomorrow and they, like Thistle, are striving to reach the final of the tournament for the very first time.
It’s a game that everyone is looking forward to, but Thistle look set to be without the services of Club Captain Alan Archibald. Said manager Jackie McNamara when he spoke to [link:HOME] after training this morning;
“Alan Archibald trained today but he is still feeling the injury that he picked up a couple of weeks ago. We’ll need to assess the injury, but right now I would say that he is struggling to be involved tomorrow. He’s an important player for us and a real leader. The league remains our number one priority this season and we want to make sure that he is back for that.”
The doubt surrounding Alan Archibald aside it looks as if we will go into tomorrow’s semi-final with a full squad for the manager to select from.
“Having more or less a full squad to pick from means that I will have some important decisions to make but as I’ve said before it’s a good problem to have. The pitch at Central Park is a tight one with not a lot of space, and that makes it a different type of game. It can become a bit of a scrap and not overly pretty. We’ll need then to give careful thought to the system that we well use tomorrow. Whatever system we use we will need to make sure that we, first and foremost, match Cowdenbeath physically; that we make sure that we win the second balls. If we can win the battle, make sure that they don’t get a lift at any point, then hopefully the players’ ability will come to the fore. ”
“One thing that we will have to make sure we do is defend long throws and corners properly. That was something that was disappointing last week against Morton. We knew that would be their major threat and when we next play them we will need to make sure that we are better prepared for that.”
“It’s not just about how the eleven that start the game tomorrow perform. We need the players that come off the bench during the game to play their part as well. With the freshness they have a player coming off the bench they should be able to make an impact and last week I didn’t think that was the case.”
There has been a real quiet determination within the squad this week as Jackie revealed.
“The players haven’t really spoken too much about the semi-final rather they have just quietly gone about their business during the week. This morning’s training session was really good with an excellent tempo to it. I know that Thistle have never previously reached the Final of this competition. Hopefully we will be able to put that right tomorrow.”
Cowdenbeath’s John Armstrong meantime will sit this game out after his straight red card last Saturday against Livingston.
Partick Thistle Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
3 1 1 9 6
Scorers Season 2012-2013
Chris Erskine 6
Steven Lawless 6
Kris Doolan 5
Steven Craig 4
Stuart Bannigan 2
Christie Elliott 1
Aaron Muirhead 1
Aaron Sinclair 1
Sean Welsh 1
Own Goal 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday October 6th 2012
Morton 3, Partick Thistle 1
Cowdenbeath Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
1 2 2 8 11
Scorers Season 2012-2013
Lewis Coult 4
Marc McKenzie 4
Kyle Miller 3
Jamie Stevenson 4
Kenneth Adamson 1
John Armstrong 1
Lewis Milne 1
Mark Ramsay 1
Greg Stewart 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday October 6th 2012
Livingston 1, Cowdenbeath 1
Last Meeting
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday September 22nd 2012
Partick Thistle 2, Cowdenbeath 1
Teams
Thistle: Fox, O’Donnell, Sinclair (Forbes), Paton, Muirhead, Archibald, Lawless, Bannigan, Elliott (Doolan), Murray, Erskine.
Cowdenbeath: Flynn, Cowan, Linton, Cameron (O’Brien), Armstrong, Adamson, McKenzie, Ramsay, Miller (Milne), Thomas, Stevenson (Brett).
Scorers
Thistle: Muirhead (25), Linton – Own Goal (70)
Cowdenbeath: Stevenson (49)
Crowd: 2,527
Match Highlights
Match Details
Ramsdens Cup Semi-Final
Sunday October 14th 2012
Cowdenbeath v Partick Thistle
Kick-off: 4:05pm
Prices
Adults £15
Concession £8 (over 65, U16)
Parent with 1 U12 £16
Following discussions between Cowdenbeath and the police it has been agreed that this game does not need to be segregated and as such all supporters will enter the ground through the High Street turnstiles.
Thistle fans will be accommodated in the old stand and the goals to the West side of the stadium, and signage will guide them to those sections of the ground.
Travel
By Supporters Bus
Central Park Information
Match Officials
Referee: John McKendrick
Assistant Referees: Stephen Mitchell and Ross Haswell
Fourth Official: George Salmond
Other Fixture
Ramsdens Cup Semi-Final
Queen of the South v Arbroath (Kick-off 3pm)
