Friday 28th December, 2018 at 5:39pm
Partick Thistle are looking to bounce back from defeat in the Highlands last week with a win over Greenock Morton this Saturday. The Jags currently sit in ninth place in the Ladbrokes Championship but a win against the Ton could see them clear of the bottom two spots going into 2019. Jags gaffer, Gary Caldwell, spoke to ptfc.co.uk ahead of the clash:
“We’re looking forward to playing at home again because our home form had picked up before the County game so getting back to Maryhill will be nice.
“We didn’t do enough going forward at County but in the two games before that we scored four so I’ll be looking for a return to that kind of attacking form this week because the boys have shown they’re capable of it.”
With no Boxing Day game this year, Gary was able to give his players a couple of days off for Christmas and he’s hoping that bit of rest will see them return to the pitch re-energised.
“It’s nice to be able to give the team some time off for the holidays, they get to spend some time with their families.
“In training they’ve looked refreshed and eager and we’re looking for that to carry over into the game on Saturday.”
In the Highlands last week, Gary deployed an unorthodox 3-4-1-2 formation which saw Kris Doolan operate in a slightly deeper role and he hopes that the team’s versatility will help to create chances in the games to come.
“I think that adaptability is important for any team. It keeps the opposition guessing and can catch some teams off guard at times.
“It also means you can change things based on who you’re playing and being able to counteract what your opponents are doing can be very useful.
“Whenever you change things up, there are new partnerships forming and it’s about finding the right combination of attacking players. Sometimes you get two players who just click but at the same time, you need the whole team to be working as one if you’re going to be successful.”
Caldwell finished by giving us the team news ahead of the match tomorrow.
“It’s pretty much unchanged in terms of injuries. The long term ones are still out but we haven’t picked up any new ones during the week.
“Of course, Stuart Bannigan misses the game through suspension which is a blow but we’ve got Craig Slater coming back into contention so that softens it a bit.
“I was pleased to get Craig some time on the park last week and it will be great to have him back in full fitness. He wasn’t 100% for the County game but he’s had a full week of training behind him and hopefully he’ll be ready to go if called upon.”
More exclusive preview interviews with Tam Scobbie, Blair Spittal and Jags gaffer, Gary Caldwell, are available to Jagzone subscribers – log in now to see them.
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