Saturday 5th April, 2014 at 2:51pm
Recent home games seem to have come with added significance for our visitors. Tomorrow we mark the end of the pre-split fixtures with a Hearts side that have not once, but twice, recorded results that have prevented them from having relegation confirmed.
Jags boss Alan Archibald took in their game with Aberdeen on Wednesday night and he is under no illusions as to how tough tomorrow’s game is going to be.
“The fact that they scored such a late goal against Aberdeen on Wednesday, a match I was at, after having a player sent off shows the great spirit that they have. Gary Locke must be very proud of his players in that respect and we know that we are in for a very tough game tomorrow not least because Hearts will be determined to stave off relegation for another week at least. We are confident though that we can get the result we need. The Celtic game aside our recent home form has been good and we will be looking to continue that on Saturday.”
Almost inevitably at this stage of the season the manager has a few injury problems to contend with although, thankfully, nothing that he hasn’t already had to deal with.
Said Alan;
“Isaac Osbourne and Sean Welsh are still out. Aaron Muirhead had his surgery on Thursday and we think he will be out for about a month. Conrad Balatoni is also still out and we are hoping he will be back for the first or second match after the split. Lee Mair and Gabriel Piccolo though have done well in recent games and I’m confident they will do so today as well. We will have Kallum Higginbotham back from suspension tomorrow which is a big boost for us.”
Finally, the manager took a look ahead to the post-split fixtures which were confirmed earlier this week.
“They were released were pretty much what we expected; we thought we would get the two at home we did and the three away. That means we will have played everyone home and away twice this season and that is fair enough. I don’t think anyone in the bottom six fears anyone and it’s all to play for as we near the end of the season.”
Partick Thistle Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
1 2 2 6 9
Scorers Season 2013-2014
Kris Doolan 8
Kallum Higginbotham 6
Steven Lawless 5
Lyle Taylor 5
Aaron Muirhead 4
Conrad Balatoni 2
Christie Elliott 3
Chris Erskine 2
Ross Forbes 1
Gary Fraser 1
Lee Mair 1
Stephen O’Donnell 1
Aaron Taylor-Sinclair 1
Last Game
Scottish Premiership
Saturday March 29th 2014
St Johnstone 1, Partick Thistle 1
Hearts Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
1 1 3 7 11
Scorers Season 2013-2014
Last Game
Scottish Premiership
Wednesday April 2nd 2014
Hearts 1, Aberdeen 1
Last Meeting
Jamie Hamill 8
Callum Paterson 7
Danny Wilson 4
Dale Carrick 3
Ryan Stevenson 3
Jamie Walker 3
Sam Nicholson 2
Jason Holt 1
Billy King 1
Jordan McGhee 1
Kevin McHattie 1
Scott Robinson 1
David Smith 1
Last Meeting
Scottish Premiership
Sunday January 5th 2014
Hearts 0, Partick Thistle 2
Teams
Hearts: MacDonald, McHattie, McGowan, Stevenson, Robinson, Paterson (Carrick), Walker (Nicholson), McKay, Smith (B King), Tapping, McGhee.
Thistle: Fox, O’Donnell, Taylor-Sinclair, Muirhead, Balatoni, Craigen, Bannigan, Lawless (Baird), Piccolo, Taylor (Doolan), Higginbotham (Elliott).
Scorers
Thistle: Taylor (13), Taylor-Sinclair (40)
Crowd: 13,763
Match Details
Scottish Premiership
Saturday April 5th 2014
Partick Thistle v Hearts
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Admission Details
Match Officials
Referee: Stephen Finnie
Assistant Referees: Gavin Harris and Ross Haswell
Fourth Official: Bobby Madden
Other Fixtures
SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP
Dundee United v Celtic
Hibernian v Aberdeen (Monday)
Kilmarnock v St Johnstone
RossCounty v Inverness Caledonian Thistle (Friday)
St Mirren v Motherwell
