Friday 3rd November, 2017 at 3:10pm
This Saturday sees Alan Archibald’s Jags side make the short trip across the Clyde to take on Rangers at Ibrox. Despite a tough start to the season the Jags seem to have turned a corner, taking seven points from a possible nine. With the results comes an upturn in confidence, something the gaffer will be looking to carry into the match on Saturday.
“I think we’re certainly in a better frame of mind – both the players and ourselves as coaching staff. We’re off the bottom of the league and coming into Saturday’s match off the back of a good week where we’ve taken seven points from nine. Hopefully we can go and build on this run when we go to Ibrox which will be a tough place to go – it always is.”
With Celtic making the Betfred Cup final the Jags now have eight games in December and only two in November, a strange quirk of the fixture computer.
“The fixtures have panned out really strangely as we only have two games in November and eight in December. That being the case it was always going to be vital that we took as many points as possible from this recent run of fixtures. The wee run we’re on now sets us up well for a vital period of games coming up and gives us a good platform to build from. We’re not out of the woods yet though and there’s plenty of hard work left to do.”
It’s fair to say Thistle’s injury record this season has been one of the worst in the league and, in the run up to the festive period Archibald knows he may have multiple selection headaches.
“The injuries we’ve had put a bit of extra pressure on that busy December period but we’re hopeful that we might get one or two of them back at least for a portion of that period. We’ve got them pencilled in but the way things have been going, and the way our luck has been this season, I’d say we’re more likely to add to that list rather than take players off it! Until we have something decisive in terms of availability we really just have to focus on the players we do have fit and take it from there.
Rangers managerial change has been well publicised in the last few weeks and while it is obviously something the coaching staff takes into account the Firhill gaffer isn’t concerning himself too much with the comings and goings at Ibrox.
“You’d think it might make it more difficult but it actually makes it a bit easier to be honest. It allows us just to focus on that one game against Hearts in terms of analysing it. Obviously he[Graeme Murty] brought in Kenny Miller and he made a real difference just by injecting a bit of energy into the performance and into the team. He’s a real leader and his movement will always cause you problems which I don’t think ever leaves a quality player.
“Rangers have really frustrated us since they came into the league. We’ve played really well against them at home and we’ve shot ourselves in the foot either with late goals or red cards so we’ve just got to strive to do better.
“We’re unbeaten against them over 90 minutes in the last two games so we go into it in a confident frame of mind. We know what we will come up against and what we will face but they’re still a very good side no matter what anyone says. We’ll prepare for it in the best way we can and hopefully that preparation gives us the best possible chance come Saturday.”
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