Saturday 28th September, 2013 at 2:15pm
After making the League Cup trip to Dundee midweek Thistle are on the road tomorrow; this time to Perth to face St Johnstone, who are just one point and one position behind Thistle in the current Premiership league table.
We are, of course, going into Saturday’s game on the back of a 4-1 defeat at Tannadice but score line was a little misleading in terms of reflecting the passage of play throughout the 90 minutes. Manager Alan Archibald, when speaking to [link:HOME] a little earlier today, was certainly far from dispirited in the wake of the defeat.
“I was more down after the defeat by Aberdeen than I was on Wednesday night and that was due to the fact that we had played so poorly against Aberdeen while we didn’t play badly against Dundee United. The 4-1 score on Wednesday would suggest that we didn’t play well but that wasn’t the case. I would have been much more worried had we not played well but that wasn’t the case. Obviously we need to cut out mistakes at the back and be more lethal in front of goal. In terms of scoring goals all the focus seems to be on the strikers but we need to be more lethal all over the park. It isn’t just down to the strikers to score the goals. Last season one of our success was the fact that we scored goals from all areas of the park and that’s something that we need to improve upon this season.”
Alan went on;
“As I said I wasn’t unhappy the performance against Dundee United and the 4-1 score was a sore one to take. I can’t in all honestly look at those that played and say that such and such a player had a nightmare; because nobody did. Those that came into the team on Wednesday I felt all did well, especially Christie Elliott and he is certainly in my thoughts for tomorrow. He’s started to get the reputation, on the basis of the end of last season and the start of this one, as being an impact player but he showed on Wednesday that he is more than that. He’s playing with a lot of confidence at the moment, he’s enjoying his football and enjoying his training.”
As for team news the manager has virtually a full squad to pick from tomorrow.
“Stuart Bannigan, after missing the game at Tannadice, should be okay for tomorrow but Jordan McMillan will again miss out; he should be back in full training Monday and Tuesday. Aaron Taylor-Sinclair picked up a wee knock on Wednesday but he should be fine. We know that tomorrow’s game is going to be a really difficult one, they all are, but we need to approach the game with the belief that we can come back with all three points.”
Partick Thistle Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
2 1 2 7 10
Scorers Season 2013-2014
Steven Lawless 3
Aaron Muirhead 3
Christie Elliott 2
Conrad Balatoni 1
Kris Doolan 1
Ross Forbes 1
Kallum Higginbotham 1
Stephen O’Donnell 1
Last Game
Scottish League Cup Third Round
Wednesday September 25th 2013
Dundee United 4, Partick Thistle 1
St Johnstone Stats
Current Form – Last Five
W D L F A
1 1 3 5 8
Scorers Season 2013-2014
Stevie May 6
Liam Caddis 1
Gwion Edwards 1
Nigel Hasselbaink 1
David Mackay 1
Steven MacLean 1
David Wotherspoon 1
Frazer Wright 1
Last Game
Scottish League Cup Third Round
Tuesday September 24th 2013
Hamilton Accies 0, St Johnstone 3
Last Meeting
Scottish Cup Fifth Round
Wednesday February 9th 2013
St Johnstone 2, Partick Thistle 0
Teams
St Johnstone: Enckelman, MacKay, Grainger, Anderson, Duberry, Morris, Davidson, Miller, Samuel (MacDonald), May (Parkin), Taylor (Craig)
Thistle: Fox, Paton, Boyle, Hodge, Kinniburgh, Archibald, Cairney (Donnelly), Rowson, Grehan (Fraser), Flannigan, Erskine (Campbell).
Scorers
St Johnstone: Davidson (42), Craig (55)
Crowd: 2,441
Match Details
Scottish Premiership
Saturday September 28th 2013
St Johnstone v Partick Thistle
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Prices
Adult £22
Over 65s £12
13-18 year olds £11
Thistle fans can also use the Ormond Family Stand, a mixed family stand. One adult and up to two children aged 12 or under can gain admission at a cost of £15. Children aged 13-16 can gain admission at a cost of £8. Unaccompanied adults or children aged 12 or under will not be admitted.
Travel
Getting to McDiarmid Park
Supporters Bus Information
Match Officials
Referee: Craig Thomson
Assistant Referees: David McGeachie and Alastair Mather
Fourth Official: Greg Aitken
Other Fixtures
Scottish Premiership
Hearts v Dundee United
Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Hibernian
Kilmarnock v Celtic
Motherwell v Ross County
St Mirren v Aberdeen (Monday)
