Wednesday 27th December, 2017 at 11:43pm
Having lifted themselves off the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership on Saturday with a win over Hamilton, Partick Thistle fell back to the foot of the table with defeat to Aberdeen this evening. A depleted Jags squad made the long trip North to the Granite City still searching for a first away win of the season. Unfortunately for the Maryhill men, the search continues after another game without victory on the road. A solitary goal from Adam Rooney was enough to see the Dons to victory at Pittodrie as the visitors failed to answer the second half opener. Thistle boss, Alan Archibald spoke to ptfc.co.uk after the game to share his thoughts on the match.
Despite the defeat, Archie seemed pleased with the general performance of his side who suffered from some training injuries during the week.
“It was good overall. The first half was better than the second both going forward and in the back line. We knew that they were going to start quickly after their loss on Saturday and I thought we rode the waves of pressure very well. They were limited to few chances and most of the shots they did have were from outside the box.”
The gaffer was, however, displeased with the manner in which Thistle conceded the Adam Rooney goal which proved to be the winner.
“In the end, we let ourselves down defensively for the goal. When you’re playing the top teams, if they produce a moment of magic then sometimes you have to hold your hands up but they score from a throw-in; there’s nothing glamorous about that. It undermines all the good work we did throughout the match and in the end costs us the game.”
Although there was that momentary lapse which led to the goal, Alan was happy with the way that his side carried out his game plan overall.
“The plan was to make ourselves hard to break down which is something we’ve improved in recent games. We played out the plan almost perfectly in the first half but I think we struggled to match the intensity of Aberdeen in the second half. The key was to keep things close because even if you’re a goal down, that’s only one chance away from a draw. We didn’t do enough going forward in the second half to warrant a point but it’s tough to freshen things up in the second 45 when we don’t have a strong bench.”
The Thistle boss then looked ahead to the Jags’ clash with Ross County at the weekend. Both sides sit in 17 points with Ross County only ahead on goal difference and with the match representing Thistle’s last before the winter break it becomes hugely important for the men in red and yellow.
“It’s a massive game. Tonight they picked up a point which takes them above us but we know that a win on Saturday takes us off the bottom which is a huge incentive. It’s at home which is key as our home form has been brilliant lately and we’ll be looking to continue that. Hopefully a couple of the guys who missed the game tonight can make it for Saturday too, to give us a boost.”
As Archie mentioned, it’s Ross County next up for Thistle as they now prepare to face the Staggies on Saturday at the Energy Check Stadium at Firhill. Kick-off is at 15:00 in Maryhill.
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Article Copyright © 2017. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to ptfc.co.uk.
