Saturday 13th October, 2018 at 7:11pm
In a scenario that the man himself could have never foreseen, Gerry Britton was back in the dugout for today’s Ladbrokes Championship fixture against Dundee United. The Chief Executive has had his week split by searching for a new manager and taking training because he and Thistle Weir Youth Academy Director, Scott Allison were the two men taking charge of the Jags as caretaker bosses this weekend. The pair have tried to freshen up the sessions over the past week but unfortunately, they weren’t able to return Thistle to winning ways earlier this afternoon.
The Maryhill men fell to a 2-1 defeat today as United goals on either side of the interval saw the Terrors to victory. Fraser Aird broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time before Pavol Safranko doubled the lead three minutes after the restart.
Jai Quitongo was able to pull one back for the home side as he notched his first goal in the red and yellow but the Jags couldn’t back that up with a second and the game ended 2-1 as Thistle lost their third straight game.
Following the final whistle, interim co-manager, Gerry Britton spoke to ptfc.co.uk to discuss an eventful 90 minutes.
“During that first period of 50 minutes or so, we allowed United to dictate the game which was massively disappointing. They started on the front foot and had a few good chances. It would have been great to get into the break at 0-0 but then we get that sucker punch.
“We improved as the second half went on and I thought the substitutes did brilliantly. McCarthy added some fight in the middle of the park and he got forward well too but Jai Quitongo was the real spark. He brought a bit of attacking intent which I felt we’d missed in the first half.”
Britton commended the substitute, Quitongo, as the number 33 grabbed his first goal for the Club since joining on transfer deadline day this summer.
“It was a great finish for his goal and Jai’s a quality finisher so I was glad he got a chance. When he came on he showed desire and enthusiasm and that helped to lift the team.
“He didn’t give their defenders a minute’s peace the whole time he was on the pitch and that’s exactly what we were looking for from him.”
Gerry hopes that whoever the new manager is will be encouraged by what the Jags showed in the final half hour of the match.
“Obviously the first half wasn’t up to scratch but we really upped it in the last 30 minutes. Hopefully, whoever comes in will look back at this game and takes the positives out of it.
“We showed the required work ethic in the latter stages and we have a core of good footballers. The new manager needs to help them find a more consistent level of performance but there’s certainly plenty there for the new boss to work with.”
With the Club currently undertaking a change, we want to keep all Thistle supporters up to date. That’s why, for this weekend’s match against Dundee United, all preview and reaction videos will be free to view for every Jags fan.
Watch the preview interviews with Andrew McCarthy, Jai Quitongo and Scott Allison free to view.
Jagzone subscribers will also be able to watch extended highlights of the game.
For a full list of all the great content you can access from just £5.99 per month as a Jagzone member, click here.
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