Saturday 30th March, 2013 at 9:37pm
The first topic of conversation that came up when manager Alan Archibald spoke to [link:HOME] after yesterday’s game was the injury time free kick from Cowdenbeath’s Jamie Stevenson and how close we came to dropping a couple of points in a game that we had otherwise dominated.
Said Alan;
“That just showed me that managing isn’t easy. They were a horrible couple of minutes. They probably should have been out of sight by that point; we had a couple of chances to finish them off. All credit to Cowdenbeath though; I thought that they were a different team today. I thought that they showed a good togetherness as well and were up for the battle.”
The manager was once again delighted with the approach of his players.
“I thought that they went about their business in the exact same way as they did on Wednesday. They won every ball, they won every second ball, they played in their half and they did everything that we asked of them. They got the goal and then missed another chance. The only negative is that they switched off at a long throw. That was the only thing that they switched off for. Maybe it was because they had played so well in the first half that they switched off a wee bit; I don’t really know but we’ll have a look back at it on the video and go over it but they came back well from it.”
As the manager admitted winning twice at the same venue in such a short space of time is no easy achievement.
“That was a big ask. I knew how important the other night’s game was. Getting the victory in that game I think made a big difference. You saw the confidence oozing out of the boys today. The way that they played as a team and the work ethic I just thought was incredible.”
In recent weeks James Craigen has emerged as a hugely important player and there was praise for James from his manager after the match.
“I thought he was brilliant throughout. He did a lot of dirty work; won a lot of second balls. He’s also got that wee bit of ability and skill where he can lift his head and deliver a ball like he did for Kris Doolan.”
There was praise too for a player that is often overlooked; goalkeeper Scott Fox.
“It shows just how important the whole team is. Scott Fox has popped up there at the finish with a wonderful save in the fourth minute of injury time. I felt that we deserved the win and to be honest it would have been harsh on us if we had dropped points there at the finish.”
Victory yesterday allowed us to open up a four point lead at the top but Thistle’s approach to things isn’t going to change one iota because of that.
“The one thing that we’ve done since I took over is that we’ve kept all of our business in-house. We’ve never said that we are going to do this or we are going to do that. I don’t like seeing that and I don’t like the team doing that. We’ve done all our talking out on the pitch or in the dressing room and that’s the way that it will continue. It will be one game at a time as it can all change very quickly but we’ve a chance to come back to Fife again on Tuesday and make a game in hand count again. Morton found out today how tough it can be at Raith Rovers and we will find that out on Tuesday.”
And finally Alan turned to the performance of the 12th man at the side of the pitch; the travelling Thistle support.
“You could hear them for the word go. They were outstanding and I thought they were outstanding the other night as well on a horrible winter’s night. I’ve said this before, but the players do notice that kind of support and it has a really positive affect. When you get a reaction like that off the fans then you get a reaction off the players. It’s very, very much appreciated.”
