Saturday 2nd August, 2014 at 6:42pm
Thistle travelled south to play Fleetwood Town, in a friendly that was contested at a decent pace but ultimately finished goalless. Fleetwood, who were promoted into League One through the playoffs last season, fielded a strong team that looked threatening on the break but were unable to break down a stalwart Thistle defence.
Jags manager, Alan Archibald, was happy with his team’s performance.
He said: “It was a very good run out for the boys, the game was played at a good pace. There was a right good tempo to the game from the very off and it didn’t feel as much like a pre-season match as some of the others that we’ve played. It was a really good game.
“I’m not normally a big fan of pre-season fixtures but today was a bit different and I think it will be valuable for the whole squad.”
Having juggled players and trialists in previous friendlies Archie was able to play more of a settled team in today’s game and the gaffer is happy that all of his squad has enough football under their belts ahead of the season opener against Ross County a week on Wednesday.
“We’re not far away now. I think everybody has covered three or four 90 minutes and we’ve still got another game to go before the kick-off with Ross County. We’ll have a look at who still needs game time ahead of Wednesday but that will be pretty much us.
“On the pitch I think we’re about on track with where we want to be. Obviously I think we still need to add one or two – we know that as well – but we’re working on it all the time. I don’t think we’re too far away from having exactly what we want.
“I think we’re all just about ready for the start of the season and there’s a bit of disappointment that we aren’t starting on Saturday with everybody else. We won’t worry about it too much though and just look forward to next Wednesday instead.
“We’ve got Sunderland coming up the road on in a few days then we’re right back into it. The focus in training is right back into the football and everyone is ready to go.”
