Friday 16th September, 2016 at 6:56pm
Thistle head into another Ladbrokes Premiership weekend with a tough trip to Kilmarnock as Alan Archibald’s side look to put the poor performance from last week behind them.
“Last week we didn’t do the basics which give us chances to win games. At this level we can’t just turn up and expect to get a win. We have to do the hard work during a game and then build on that.
“The players know that last week wasn’t good enough and that improvements are required, starting with the Kilmarnock game on Saturday. We have to win our individual battles and do the simple things correctly to give ourselves the best chance of three points.
“In the past when we’ve had a poor performance from a number of players, we’ve always had a reaction and improvement, so hopefully that is a trend which will continue heading into this weekend.”
Thistle have been training at Lesser Hampden in a bid to readapt to artificial surfaces and with a good recent record at the Ayrshire ground, the manager is hoping that the preparation continues to help.
“We won both our games at Rugby Park so we know we can do it on an artificial surface. We’ve been training at Lesser Hampden to get used to the feel of it again and make sure there are no excuses on Saturday.
“We’re desperate to break our losing run before it becomes a habit. We will roll up the sleeves, work hard and make sure we give ourselves the best chance of bringing the three points back up the road on Saturday evening.”
Thistle fans at last week’s game saw Tomas Cerny leave during the first half and the gaffer gave us an update on his condition.
“Tomas is struggling for Saturday but we’ll give him every chance. The way his foot is, the injury settles down very, very quickly. We’re just not sure if he will last a full game and that’s a decision we need to make. He could start, last half an hour and we have to use a sub, like we did last week. It’s not an ideal situation to be in.
“We’ve brought in Thorsten Stuckmann on a short term deal to give us extra cover in the goalkeeping position. He comes with a lot of experience and will provide good competition in the squad.”
