Saturday 29th March, 2014 at 2:49pm
After the late drama of Doolan’s 90th minute equaliser in Perth, ptfc.co.uk talked to manager, Alan Archibald, to get his thoughts on a hard fought but well deserved point.
Alan said: “It was a great time to score, right at the end, and to be honest it was the least our play deserved. Apart from the first five minutes I thought the lads played very well today. We were poor at the start and we never really got to grips with St Johnstone at all. It was disappointing to lose such a scrappy goal so early, especially given there was a deflection in there too, but I think the response from the team was great.
“As the game went on we increased the number of chances and we were determined to at least get a point out of the game.”
Alan was happy with the point and thought, on another day, it could have been three.
He said: “We certainly created enough chances to win the match and, had we scored a bit earlier in the game, I think we probably would have gone on to secure all three points. You know what you’re getting with St Johnstone, they are well organised and extremely difficult to break down so it was always going to be a tough ask – especially having lost an early goal.”
Archie has no doubt that the fight to avoid the playoff spot will go right down to the wire and, with most of the other teams in the lower half also drawing, things are pretty much as you were for the bottom six.
“It certainly looks like the fight to avoid that playoff spot will go right to the end of the season. We’re just looking to keep everything in our own hands and makes sure we are in the best possible position going into the final run of games.”
It was the style of the performance in particular that impressed the manager.
He said: “I felt we played most of the game in their half and I was delighted when Kris Doolan came on and got his goal. In fact, all the subs came on and made a difference today with lawless involved in Kris’s goal. As a manager it’s always great to see your subs come on and make a difference – I was pleased for all the boys today.”
