Saturday 15th August, 2015 at 2:22pm
Manager, Alan Archibald, was hoping to take the positives from the draw against Inverness into Saturday’s tough fixture against Kilmarnock.
“There were a lot of positives to take from Wednesday night. We created a lot of chances and good situations but we weren’t clinical enough. We had a couple of three V two’s where we picked the wrong option. The goalkeeper made a couple of good saves but it was more pleasing in the final third. We just need to get that goal which will hopefully kick us on.”
Thistle’s attacking options have changed throughout the opening games of the season but Archie is confident it won’t disrupt the team’s attacking play.
“It didn’t show on Wednesday. Kris Doolan came on early on, usually a difficult thing to do, and he did really well. A lot of our forward play came from the focal point of Dools. We have to use our full squad, we did it last year and we’ll aim to do the same this year.“
Thistle have recorded two clean sheets from the opening three games and Alan is pleased with how his defence has been playing to start the season.
“We had a lot of clean sheets last year, it was something we had improved on from our first season in the Premiership. We’re delighted with it and it’s great for Tomas Cerny. He’s come in and played a massive part in our defensive solidity. We had to get a goalkeeper in and his form shows how vital it was to get him in early.
“Jack was unlucky to miss out on Wednesday as we opted for a bit more experience in Freddie which was a good decision as he helped Liam through the game. Inverness are a hard team to play against with their movement, and Liam is learning all the time. He’s doing the right things and we’ll never discourage him from passing the ball.”
Archibald has mixed team news to deal with in the build up to the game.
“Mathias Pogba has only strained his hamstring which I’m delighted with. Physios are always wary of them but we’ll give him the best chance we can to make it.
“It’s disappointing to learn that Christie is out for between 12 and 20 weeks. He’s such a vital player for us because he can cover four or five positions on the pitch. His versatility is incredibly useful for a manager to have and it’s a blow. We’ll now need to move into the transfer market to find someone to cover for him.”
