Saturday 22nd September, 2018 at 7:04pm
Following consecutive away games over the past two weekends, Partick Thistle returned to the Energy Check Stadium at Firhill as they took on Queen of the South in the Ladbrokes Championship. The Doonhamers came to Maryhill in fourth place, however, a win for Thistle would take them above their opponents and that’s exactly how it played out. The visitors actually took the lead through Stephen Dobbie after four minutes before Kris Doolan drew the hosts level. Gary Naysmith’s side then retook the lead thanks to Josh Todd but a quickfire Blair Spittal double saw the Jags 3-2 at the break and that’s how the game finished following a cagey second 45. The win moved Thistle into sixth place in a tight Championship table with six matches played. Jags boss, Alan Archibald discussed the game with ptfc.co.uk after the final whistle.
Archie began by telling us how pleased he was to finally see his team come from behind to take all three points from a game.
“We’d started on the front foot but then they make their first move into our half and get a goal which was too similar to last week for my liking. It’s a simple ball forward that we don’t deal with and they punish us as we’d expect them to. In the end, we showed plenty of character to come back from a goal down, not once but twice. The boys will take great confidence from that and I’m delighted for them.”
He went on to compliment the Man of the Match, Blair Spittal, on his outstanding display which included an assist and two goals.
“Blair worked really hard today and he deserved his two goals. I think the one he got at the end of the game last week gave him that little bit of extra confidence which helped him shine. Obviously, people will highlight his second as the standout but I was pleased with all of our goals today. We moved the ball well and did brilliantly to open the space which led to us getting into the lead.”
Although the gaffer was pleased with his side’s attacking play, he still felt there was plenty room for improvement in the backline.
“Defensively, we’re just giving goals away and we can’t afford to do that every week. The first goal is very avoidable and the second is a simple counter attack. If we can stop the individual errors then that would give us a great base to build on. To be fair to the defence though, we looked pretty solid in the second half and they didn’t get many clear cut chances. It was good to see us just grind a result out like that against quality opposition.”
Alan ended by praising Stuart Bannigan, who started his first game in almost a year this afternoon, controlling the midfield well before coming off in the 80th minute.
“When he came on last week, you could see how he changed the game. He’s such a popular guy and he’s an excellent player too so everyone wants to see him back out on the pitch regularly. I think he tired a bit in the second half and that coincided with Queen of the South getting a bit more control of the game. Overall we’re delighted to have him back and we hope this will be the first of many starts for him this season.”
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