Saturday 27th October, 2012 at 9:05pm
A week after Thistle hit seven in defeating Airdrie United, and climbed back to the top of the First Division in the process, manager Jackie McNamara has some tough decisions to make ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Falkirk as he explained to [link:HOME];
“Just about everyone is fit and available for tomorrow’s game and I have a few tough decisions to make. Do I change a team that has just won 7-0, or do I bring back some of my more experienced players who are available for selection again? It’s a hard decision to make but, as I’ve been saying a lot recently, it’s a good problem for a manager to have.”
The experienced players that Jackie is referring to are, of course, Hugh Murray and Alan Archibald. The former is free from suspension and the latter, as Jackie reveals, was close to playing against Airdrie United last weekend.
“Alan trained last Friday but we decided in the end to go with the same side that had defeated Cowdenbeath. Conrad Balatoni, who came in to replace Alan, has done well in the last couple of games and has been part of a defence that have kept two clean sheets. It will be tough having to decide whether he should play tomorrow, albeit in a different game; an away game, or whether we should bring back our Club captain. It will be tough having to take any player out as they’ve all done well in the last couple of games.”
And what of Steven Craig and Aaron Muirhead, both of whom picked up knocks against Airdrie United?
“They both picked up sore ones against Airdrie United but they both trained yesterday and should hopefully be okay for what will be a tough game.”
Jackie continued;
“With us going back to the top of the league Falkirk, like every team, will be looking to claim our scalp. More important for them though will be the opportunity to get themselves back into the promotion frame. If we defeat them tomorrow then they will be 15 points behind us and even this early in the season that’s a lot of points to make up.”
“We’ll obviously give thought to how we think Falkirk will play but first and foremost we will need to look after ourselves and make sure that we stamp our authority on the game. We know that when we play as well as we can do then we are a very difficult team to beat. We’ve a lot of pace in the team and we look dangerous. It was particularly pleasing to have six different goal scorers last Saturday, that’s not something that happens too often. It’s good that we don’t rely on just one or two players for our goals.”
Much has been made in recent seasons about the youthful make up of the Falkirk side but the Thistle manager believes that it is a situation that is mirrored at Firhill and elsewhere.
There’s much made of the young players that Falkirk have, but is often forgotten that we too have a young team. Besides it’s not just young players that Falkirk have. They have experienced players like Darren Dods, Sean Higgins, who’s there now, and David Weatherston.”
Partick Thistle Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
3 1 1 12 5
Scorers Season 2012-2013
Chris Erskine 8
Steven Lawless 7
Kris Doolan 6
Steven Craig 5
Stuart Bannigan 2
Aaron Muirhead 2
Sean Welsh 2
Christie Elliott 1
Ross Forbes 1
Aaron Sinclair 1
Own Goal 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday October 20th 2012
Partick Thistle 7, Airdrie United 0
Falkirk Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
1 4 0 7 5
Scorers Season 2012-2013
Lyle Taylor 9
Stewart Murdoch 2
David Weatherston 2
Kieran Duffie 1
Jay Fulton 1
Stephen Kingsley 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday October 20th 2012
Dumbarton 0, Falkirk 2
Last Meeting
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday August 11th 2012
Partick Thistle 3, Falkirk 1
Teams
Thistle: Fox, O’Donnell, Bannigan, Paton, Muirhead, Archibald, Lawless, Welsh, Doolan, Murray, Erskine subs Elliott, Sinclair, Craigen.
Falkirk: McGovern, Duffie, Kingsley, Flynn, Smith, J Fulton, D Fulton, Murdoch, Taylor, Haworth, Alston sub Sibbald.
Scorers
Thistle: Lawless (4), Doolan ( 7 & 57)
Falkirk: Taylor (53)
Crowd: 3,487
Match Highlights
Match Details
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday October 27th 2012
Falkirk v Partick Thistle
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Prices
Adults: £18
Concessions (fulltime student/over 65s/unemployed): £12
Under 16s: £8
Parking and Travel Information
Supporters Bus Information
Match Officials
Referee: Bobby Madden
Assistant Referees: Stuart MacMillan and Gavin Thomson
Other First Division Fixtures
Dumbarton v Airdrie United
Dunfermline Athletic v Cowdenbeath
Hamilton Accies v Raith Rovers
Livingston v Morton
