Saturday 1st September, 2012 at 8:54pm
Understandably after a 4-0 win, our fourth consecutive win in the league, it was a contented Jackie McNamara that www.ptfc.co.uk spoke to after this afternoon’s game.
“I think when you score four goals and don’t concede then you have to be satisfied. I feel though that we can play a lot better. At half-time I was happy to be 1-0 ahead. We didn’t pass the ball well in the first half. In fact we played much better in the first half on Tuesday night but didn’t get the reward for that. Football is a bit like that at times.”
“I felt that we looked a bit anxious at times when we were in possession. That might have been as a result of what happened on Tuesday night when we didn’t get the goals that we merited. In the second half you could see the lift the players got from the goals. There was great desire from the lads to keep going even when the score was 3-0. Christie Elliott was closing players down and of course Steven Craig got his reward with the ricochet at the fourth goal.”
“There were a lot of pleasing things about today. The fact that I know that we can player better and that we kept another clean sheet. Scott Fox has had two wee things in the first half but after that it was very very quiet for him. I’m delighted with the score and I’m delighted with the players attitude.”
There was praise for Steven Craig who marked his Thistle debut with two goals.
“I think everyone can see the experience that Steven has, and he knows how to use his body to good effect. First and foremost I’m delighted to have managed to bring him in. There’s been a lot of players that have gone out on loan to various clubs in the last few days. In the main they have been younger players and we’ve been fortunate that we have managed to bring in a player with experience which has perhaps been lacking. I think Steven is going to prove to be a big asset for us and he will be able to use that experience and help other players. Today he was excellent when he came on for Kris Doolan. Even when the balls up to him weren’t great he was able to make the most of them. He’s a real handful and never stops.”
Steven Craig came on in the first half to replace an injured Kris Doolan and the manager was able to give us an update on Kris and Alan Archibald who also came off injured this afternoon.
“It’s nothing too serious with either of them. Kris’ injury is probably the one that is giving us the most concern and hopefully it is just a strain of his thigh rather than a tare and something more sinister. He actually did it in the very first minute when he went through and the guy pulled him down and he struggled after that. Archie just got a bang. It isn’t his knee which is good, just his hip. He got a bang on it in the first half and it started to stiffen up. At half-time we decided to see how he would go in the second half.”
Conrad Balatoni was the player who came on to replace the Club captain in the second half.
“It was good to give Conrad a bit of game time. We’ve got a good squad at the moment. Mark McGuigan and James Craigen missed out today and it is important to try and make sure that those that are left out are still made to feel part of things as we continue to try and move forward.”
Hamilton manager Billy Reid meantime was a bit more downbeat than his opposite number.
“It just wasn’t our day today. I think I had a lot of tired and jaded players out there including my captain who came through 120 minutes on Tuesday after not having played a lot of football. We’ve lost 4-0 but I don’t think we were battered at all. Thistle are a good team and once they got a couple ahead they played with a bit of a swagger but I didn’t see it as a game in which we got a battering.”
There was some controversy surrounding Thistle’s second goal. Said Reid;
“My players feel aggrieved about that goal. They feel that our goalkeeper was barged as the corner came over but we didn’t get the decision.”
