Saturday 11th March, 2017 at 8:26pm
Having won their last three consecutive league games, Partick Thistle would have been looking to extend that run against Inverness and, until the final seconds of today’s clash, it looked as if they would do so. However, it wasn’t to be and Gary Warren scored a late equaliser to cancel out Kris Doolan’s opener.
The goal was a difficult one to take for the Jags but despite the late stinger, they remain in the top six for the time being. After the match Thistle boss, Alan Archibald, spoke to ptfc.co.uk to offer his views on the day’s game.
The gaffer addressed the equaliser first and Archie was disappointed to see his side lose a late goal, a habit that his team seemed to have eradicated from their game before today.
“It was something we were doing early on in the season and it’s a shame to see it happen again. We had done the hard bit; scored the goal. We had a lot of the ball in the first half but I think the forced substitutions hurt our game substantially and certainly hurt our flow. We should have seen the game out. We looked comfortable enough but we have got to stop the cross coming into the box late on.”
Archibald thought that after opening the scoring his side should have been able to keep their opponents at bay.
“As I’ve said, the difficult part was scoring. Inverness were hard to play against today with their three centre-halves and it was really difficult to get in behind them. However, we did that, we got the goal but we have to see the game out. It was a simple throw-in and a simple cross, at the end of the day, and they threw everything at us in the final minutes and they got their goal.”
The Jags boss recognises that today was a missed opportunity to put some space between his side and the bottom six.
“It was a massive game and we should have won. Every game is huge at this stage of the season. Our rival teams are playing each other and the win would have put some daylight between us and the bottom half but it wasn’t to be in the end.”
Archie was pleased with the performance of David Amoo, who was thrust into the game earlier than expected when Abdul Osman was forced off with an injury.
“I thought he gave us a different dimension when he got going. He was very much in the game in the second half and I felt that he and Ade Azeez both played well off the bench.”
The Thistle manager also gave a brief update on Abdul Osman and Steven Lawless who both had to come off in the first half after suffering injuries.
“We’re not sure yet, concerning the full extent of the injuries. Abdul could feel his hamstring but I think we got him off before any serious damage was done so we hope he’ll be alright. Steven Lawless took a hit on the knee so fingers crossed that he’ll be fine as well.”
It is Kilmarnock who Thistle face next as they continue their quest for a top half finish on Saturday 18th of March at Rugby Park with kick-off at 15:00.
A more in depth video interview with Alan Archibald is available now to Jagzone subscribers and will be followed by reaction from Ade Azeez and Niall Keown. Log in now to see it as soon as it is available.
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Article Copyright © 2017. Permission to use quotations from this article online is only granted subject to appropriate source credit and hyperlink to ptfc.co.uk.
