Tuesday 10th May, 2016 at 3:31pm
Thistle emerged from Tannadice with a point after an entertaining 3-3 draw with Dundee United. It would have been all three points if it wasn’t for the concession of two late goals to bring the Tayside club back into the match. Ptfc.co.uk caught up with Alan Archibald shortly after the game to get his thoughts of the match.
“It’s frustrating not to be standing here talking about a win. We need to see out the final stages of games and we didn’t do that tonight. Saturday showed that we are capable of doing that when we beat a Kilmarnock side that are fighting for their lives.
“We did well in the game to get ourselves a two goal lead. Dundee United grabbed a goal back but we went and got a goodthird goal and I thought that would be that. We had the gamewon with five minutes to go and we let it slip with is alwaysdisappointing.”
It was a makeshift side that took to the field with a number of changes and Alan was pleased with the way his side had performed.
“We’ve got a number of players who have picked up injuries so we’re down to the barebones in terms of numbers. We had Frederic Frans playing at right back for the first time and I thought he did well. David Wilson did a good job in the middle of the park and just got a bit tired in the end so we had to take him off. Hopefully we haven’t picked up any knocks from tonight and we’ll be able to put a strong side out against Hamilton on Saturday.
“James Penrice came in and made his debut at left back and I thought he did really well. This is just the start for him, he’ll have to keep working hard at his game to continue improving but I thought he did well. United put difficult players up against him throughout the game and I thought he coped well with them.”
The manager knew better than most the impact that Ricky Roughan had on the club and he paid tribute to a friend that he has known for a long time in his life.
“Ricky may have been an employee of Partick Thistle but he was also a close, close friend and someone I’ve known for over 20 years. He’s been someone who has had an impact on myself and my family for a very long time. He’s the heart and soul of the club and he brings a lot of life to it.
“He was more than a kitman at the club. He did everything around the club and he was always there when someone was down to help pick them up. If someone got too big for their boots then he brought them down a peg or two. Guys like him are a massive loss to the game. Whether you knew him for ten minutes or for ten years, he touched everybody.”
