Saturday 4th October, 2014 at 6:56pm
After having just witnessed his side bounce back from the disappointment of defeat at Rugby Park with a well merited success over Motherwell it was an understandably contented Alan Archibald that [link:HOME] spoke to after yesterday’s game; especially as the win was recorded minus some key personnel.
“We spoke about that before the game and the importance of not feeling sorry for ourselves because players are missing and I felt that the players responded really well to that. It was an excellent three points for us and first and foremost I have to praise the players for their work rate. We didn’t work hard enough at Kilmarnock last week but we certainly did today. They performed the ugly side of the game really well and that allowed us to play and we scored some good goals which I was delighted about.”
The manager made three changes from the side that went down to Kilmarnock but with Steven Lawless a major injury doubt before the game he was nearly required to make a fourth change as well.
“Steven didn’t train all week and it was a bit of a gamble to play him today but it was a gamble that paid off.”
Although there was to be no clean sheet for Thistle the manager was more than happy with the way his side defended
“Motherwell are a really difficult team to defend against. They have a lot of big guys in their team and they get the ball into the box but we coped well with that with Dan Seaborne really leading from the front in that regard. They scored a bit of a wonder goal probably during our best spell in the game and that got them back into the match but again I was really impressed with the way the players stood up to that and we were able to score a goal on the break to clinch the points.”
Victory yesterday was our first win over Motherwell since December 2003 with the Fir Park side winning all three encounters between the sides last season. Yesterday’s well deserved success then is a further confirmation of the progress that the Club is making.
Said Alan;
“It sounds a bit like sour grapes when you say it but I didn’t think that we deserved to lose all three games to Motherwell last season. We played some good football in those matches. To get the win that we deserved today then is a sign of the progress that we are making.”
With the international break coming up we are without a fixture next weekend which the manager considers to be both good and bad news.
“When you get a win you do want to try and build on the momentum of that as quickly as possible but we picked up a few knocks today and it will be good to be able to give the players a couple of days off before we start the hard work again. Victory today though means that we will approach the Dundee United game, which will be a very difficult match, with a bit of confidence.”
