Saturday 29th September, 2012 at 9:00pm
The start that we have made to our league season has been quite excellent. Six games have been played and six games have been won. We’re more than aware, however, that four of those six games have been played at Firhill and tomorrow we enter a tough period where we will play three, two in the league and one in the Ramsdens Cup, away games in a row.
The first comes at a venue that we haven’t enjoyed too much success at in recent years. The 2-0 win at Stark’s Park in March 2011 was very much the exception rather than the norm.
Tomorrow’s fixture then with Raith Rovers tomorrow is likely to be an extremely difficult one.
www.ptfc.co.uk caught up with manager Jackie McNamara after completion of this morning’s training and he was able to give us the latest news from inside the Thistle camp.
“I watched Raith Rovers in their match with Celtic during the week and I thought that they were a little unfortunate in terms of the final score. They were, as they always are, very well organised and if we are to keep our run going and get the three points then we are really going to have to compete with them.”
Jackie tomorrow will be taking his team to Kirkcaldy missing a few players, although the injury news is encouraging.
“Steven Craig, Sean Welsh and Ryan Scully will all miss this trip.”
Jackie continued;
“We are really happy with the progress that Steven has been making with physio Kenny Crichton. He won’t play tomorrow but we think that he should be available for next week’s game at Morton which is good news.”
Ryan Scully’s absence means that Graeme Smith will sit on the bench for the third and last time as a trialist, but Scully too should soon be on the way back.
“Ryan has had problems with his back but we think he is just about there and he should be available soon.”
There’s good news too about Kris Doolan.
“Although Kris came off the bench last week against Cowdenbeath he wasn’t quite 100% fit. He’s done a lot of work with Kenny Crichton, whose done a fantastic job, this week and he joined in training with the rest of the squad today and he should be fine for tomorrow.”
Partick Thistle Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
4 0 1 11 3
Scorers Season 2012-2013
Chris Erskine 6
Steven Lawless 6
Kris Doolan 4
Steven Craig 3
Stuart Bannigan 2
Christie Elliott 1
Aaron Muirhead 1
Aaron Sinclair 1
Sean Welsh 1
Own Goal 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday September 22nd 2012
Partick Thistle 2, Cowdenbeath 1
Raith Rovers Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
1 0 4 4 11
Scorers Season 2012-2013
Brian Graham 11
Pat Clarke 4
Greig Spence 3
Allan Walker 3
Douglas Hill 2
Grant Anderson 1
Last Game
Scottish Communities League Cup Third Round
Tuesday September 25th 2012
Celtic 4, Raith Rovers 1
Last Meeting
Ramsdens Cup Quarter-Final
Sunday September 9th 2012
Partick Thistle 3, Raith Rovers 0
Teams
Thistle: Fox, O’Donnell, Bannigan, Paton, Muirhead, Archibald (Balatoni), Lawless, Welsh, Craig (Elliott), Murray (Sinclair), Erskine.
Raith Rovers: Fleming, Thomson, Donaldson, Murray, Malone, S Anderson (Callachan), G Anderson (Smith), Walker, Graham, Clarke (Spence), Hamill.
Scorers
Thistle: Erskine (50, 58), Craig (52)
Crowd: 1,807
Match Highlights
Match Details
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday September 29th 2012
Raith Rovers v Partick Thistle
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Prices
Adults – £17
Parent & Child – £20
Students – £13*
Juniors/OAPS/Jobseekers – £9*
Disabled – Half Price
Carer – Free
Pre-School – Free
*Proof of status is required for concessionary rates
Away support will be located in the North Stand
Match Officials
Referee: Kevin Clancy
Assistant Referees: James Dean and David Cockburn
Other First Division Fixtures
Cowdenbeath v Falkirk
Hamilton Accies v Dunfermline Athletic
Livingston v Dumbarton
Airdrie United v Morton
