Wednesday 20th September, 2017 at 2:31am
A gutted looking Alan Archibald took time away from his other post match duties to speak to ptfc.co.uk and reflect on a very disappointing evening as his Jags side went out of the Betfred Cup at the quarter final stage.
Although the result may look cut and dry on paper the reality could not be farther from that. However, despite a solid performance that caused the Gers no end of problems Archibald knows his side have to face the reality of not making it into the next round.
“Disappointment is the overriding emotion but I think we’re also a bit bemused to be honest. We simply never saw that coming as we went into extra time. I thought we finished the game really strongly and that we deserved the goal based on our possession and play at that point in the game.”
Thistle looked at their most dangerous leading up to the full time whistle and Archie believes the game was there for the taking at that point.
“Honestly I think that the full time whistle was the worst thing that could have happened to us. Maybe if we’d kept playing for a few more minutes we could have found a winner. It’s a lot of ifs and buts but our boys were showing a lot of confidence going into that extra period.
“Credit to Rangers though, they really pegged us back and pushed us deeper and deeper as the game went on. They are good players and do what they do very well.
“We were trying to get Kris Doolan on just as they scored their opening goal from the corner. I don’t think our formation led to any chances for them, they all came from our slack play – passing or getting caught dwelling on the ball. That was a major disappointment because we created some great chances in the first half through some excellent play.”
Conor Sammon put in a man of the match performance for the home side and the veteran marksman impressed his gaffer once again.
“I thought we hurt them and Conor up front did really well. he wasn’t just a target man and his movement and hold up play caused them problems all night long. Our final delivery was poor tonight and probably cost us but we have a good group of players who all work hard for each other and I’m certain that will help us bounce back from this bitter disappointment.”
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