Friday 4th March, 2022 at 11:38pm
The management team’s written previews and reactions are presented by The Jags Trust. You can keep up to date with the latest from The Jags Trust by visiting their website, www.jagstrust.com.
It was back to winning ways this evening for Partick Thistle as they secured a huge three points against Inverness to leapfrog the Caley Jags and move into third place in the cinch Championship table. The Maryhill men left it late too as Kevin Holt’s 86th minute goal proved to be the decider after a game with chances aplenty. Thistle boss Ian McCall spoke to ptfc.co.uk after the full-time whistle:
“It wasn’t a pretty game but that’s not what it’s about at this point in the season. I think we really dominated that first half and we have two or three chances that on another day we might have scored. Lewis Mayo had a decent one early on and then Juan has two including one that hits the post so we felt we could have been ahead by half-time.
“They got better after half-time and credit to them because they created a few good openings. There were some moments when it was a bit edgy but, to be fair, Jamie didn’t have too much to do. At the end of the day, it was all about getting those three points and we managed that.”
It was Thistle number three Kevin Holt who produced the winning moment and the manager said he was pleased for the defender after a couple of near things in recent games.
“He had one against Morton that he couldn’t quite turn in and then the one against Arbroath on Tuesday as well but he took his goal tonight so well. He’s someone who’s always a threat in there and over the season he’s done well for us in terms of goals.”
McCall made a few second half substitutes as he looked to swing the game in Thistle’s favour and he says he was pleased with the impact each of them made.
“You need guys to come off the bench and affect the game, especially in matches like this one. I brought Kyle Turner, Cammy Smith and Alex Jakubiak on with a long way to go and they all gave absolutely everything. Of course, it’s Kyle’s corner that gets us the goal which was a great bonus too.
“We then brought Steven Bell on for the last few minutes and it was great to see him back out on the pitch after a long injury lay-off. He wasn’t just on for the sake of it though, he was on to do a job and he did that well winning a couple of headers as we saw it out.”
Now the team look ahead to a Tuesday night clash with Queen of the South at Firhill next week and the gaffer knows that’ll be another tough one.
“We know we won’t get any easy games but this one in particular will be a real challenge. Willie Gibson’s turned things around a bit for them and considering the position they’re still in, they’ll give absolutely everything. We’ll do the same though and hopefully we can produce another big result.”
Further reaction from Thistle manager Ian McCall and Alex Jakubiak will be available to watch on JagZone tonight – log in to view.
We’ll have extended highlights and a full game replay of the fixture on JagZone later tonight.
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