Saturday 20th October, 2012 at 9:04pm
As you would imagine it was a very happy and contented Jackie McNamara that [link:HOME] spoke to after yesterday’s emphatic 7-0 hammering of Airdrie United.
“First half I thought that we were excellent. We scored some good goals and we played some good football. I was delighted too with the attitude shown in the second half. When you are so far ahead you do wonder if they will take the foot off the gas but they were still working hard and looking sharp.”
“I felt a wee bit for Jimmy Boyle and a couple of wee things went against him but from our point of view the fact that we were so far ahead allowed me to take a couple of players off for protection as we have a big game at Falkirk coming up next week. I took Chris Erskine and Steven Lawless and brought on Christie Elliott and Paul Slane to try and give them a bit of confidence. Kris Doolan came on as Steven Craig took a bad knock in the first half and we’re hoping that he will be okay for next week’s game.”
“We had a lot of really good performances today and that is reflected in the score line. At times we were unplayable. We try and press and do things quickly and when we do that we are very hard to play against. I know that people say that we play with just one striker, but the way that we play and the way that we move it’s not a 4-5-1 formation it is a 4-3-3.”
“Paul Paton has been excellent all season and Sean Welsh has just come back from injury. Right through the team we have good players and that is giving me a selection problem but it is a good problem to have. We have a good squad at the moment. We had Aaron Sinclair, who was in the First Division team of the year last season, on the bench today and he didn’t get on. It’s important to try and keep them all happy and where possible get them some game time because they are all part of it all. There is a long way to go in the season, that’s just the first quarter finished. All the players are going to be called upon because we are going to encounter things like injuries and suspensions.”
“It’s nice to finish the first quarter at the top of the league. We can’t ask for much better than that. Even the game that we lost at Morton I thought we played well in the match. The boys have a real desire and winning mentality but I’ve emphasised to them that there is still three quarters of the season to go and we need keep focused as we have some really big games coming up. We’ve Falkirk away and Dunfermline at home as well as a Scottish Cup tie with Cove Rangers to look forward to.
In contrast to his opposite number the Airdrie United manager Jimmy Boyle had a shell shocked look to him as he came into the press room clutching a dvd of the game; a dvd that was certain to make uncomfortable viewing for him. He certainly didn’t pull any punches in his assessment of his team’s display.
“First and foremost I have to say that Partick Thistle are a very good team and I thought that they started off great but it is schoolboy defending from us. I don’t think that Thistle had to work too hard for their goals, just a bit of movement and some passing moves. It was just ridiculous from us in the first half although I did think that the penalty was very, very soft. Thistle were though by far the better team and it could have been more by the end. I don’t think their keeper has had a single save to make.”
“I know that people are going to say that you have come up from the Second Division but the players are making it very difficult for me to continually back them with performances like that and like Hamilton the week before. We’ve got injuries to important players and with the squad that we’ve got we can’t afford those injuries. The players that have been coming in though just haven’t been taking the chance they’ve been given and I’m now going to have to change the team again.”
“That’s not acceptable. The supporters won’t accept it and I won’t accept it and I’m quite sure that the Chairman will have a few words to say to me about it. I’ll need to go back to the drawing board. I’ll work hard, as I’ve always done, and roll up my sleeves but these players really need to step up, they just haven’t done that in the last four or five weeks. Too many players are hiding and that won’t get us results; it will get us defeats like that especially against a very good side like that.”
