Tuesday 20th April, 2021 at 11:14pm
Partick Thistle were on a rollercoaster of emotions this evening as they went top of the table for the first time this season with a 2-0 win over Dumbarton. Following a tepid first half, controversy spawned as Zak Rudden’s shot was judged not to have gone in despite seeming to cross the line leaving the away side furious. The Maryhill men rallied, however, and did get their breakthrough with ten minutes to play as Rudden forced Richard Foster’s cross high into the net; no doubt about the second attempt as Dumbarton pushed for a response, Thistle grabbed a second to secure the points as Ross MacIver slotted home his first goal for the club. Jags manager Ian McCall spoke to ptfc.co.uk after the final whistle:
“It was an incredibly tough game of football tonight because Dumbarton are a good team. The pitch wasn’t the greatest and it didn’t allow either team to play a lot on it but the key for us was that we kept at it and in the end Zak Rudden and Ross MacIver do the business to get us a big win.
“As I say, it didn’t make for a very good game with lots of technical play. It turned into a battle at times which meant effort was vital and we gave everything right up until the very end and that showed in the two late goals we got.”
For a time it looked like the result would be determined by a moment where the officials didn’t give a goal that the Jags felt should have been given and McCall admitted he was very frustrated that his team were denied the lead wrongly in his eyes.
“Look, it looked a yard over the line at least and we had subs out warming up at the time who saw it the same way but at the end of the day we had to get over the emotion of it and refocus which we did and we got the win which we merited.”
As his side claimed a fourth straight clean sheet, the gaffer piled the praise on the backline.
“It was another really solid showing I thought and again Jamie Sneddon didn’t have much to do. I have to say, Steven Bell and Richard Foster were magnificent; to be playing at the level they are with so many games at their age is brilliant and they’re helping everyone around them too. We’re really happy with how the team are defending at the moment.”
Now focus turns to Saturday afternoon as Thistle prepare for their first post-split fixture of the campaign and Ian says the team need to carry the momentum they currently have into that match.
“We’re now working towards Saturday and it’s obviously going to be a massive match; they all are at this stage. Thankfully we don’t have a Thursday game this week so there’s a bit of time to recover and then time to prepare so the boys should be fit and ready to go come the weekend.”
Further reaction with Thistle gaffer Ian McCall will be available for JagZone subscribers to watch – log in to view.
We’ll also have extended highlights and a full game replay of this evening’s match on JagZone later – log in to view.
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