Friday 19th March, 2021 at 7:37pm
Chris Erskine is a name associated with a lot of great memories for Partick Thistle fans, whether it’s the 2012/13 promotion season, the club’s Premiership survival in 2014 or the top six campaign, he’s been involved with some very memorable moments and he’s hoping to be involved in a few more having re-joined the club on loan from East Kilbride until the end of the season. Like the rest of the Thistle squad, Chris hasn’t played any competitive football since the end of last year and, speaking to ptfc.co.uk, he described his excitement ahead of the League One restart this Saturday:
“I’m really looking forward to it, to getting back into the strut of playing again. We’re all looking forward to just playing again and hopefully we can get off to a good start with the league coming back.
“We don’t really have any time to bed ourselves back into things – we need to start quickly. Obviously, you always want to start well no matter what the situation is but now more so than ever because it’s almost like a sprint to the finish which means there’s really no time for any slip-ups.”
Erskine says the congested nature of the League One schedule makes the target very clear for the squad going into the run-in.
“I think it focuses everyone’s minds. We’ve spoken as a group about the importance of that good start and we know that there’s only a small number of games left and that there won’t be loads of time to catch up if we do drop points so we’re aiming to get off to the perfect start with a win at home this weekend.”
The new Thistle number 15 is one of five additions the manager has made in the extended loan window and Chris says that added depth could prove vital.
“I think everyone is going to be needed over the course of the next couple of months because of the volume of games we’ll be playing. From a personal point of view, I have to be ready whenever I’m needed whether that’s for ten minutes at the end of a game or to start. It’s a case of doing whatever we need to do for the club.”
The visit of Cove Rangers to Maryhill represents a difficult reintroduction to league action with the Aberdeen side sitting in second place as things stand and Erskine knows it’ll be a challenge to get all three points.
“It’s a tough fixture without a doubt but if you want to be in the mix for the title you have to be able to beat teams up near the top with you and really we have to be looking to win every game we play now, that has to be our aim.
“When I’ve spoken to some of the boys they’ve mentioned the last game against Cove and how bad the weather was so I doubt you could tell much about either team from that game. They’ll be up for it though because we’ve all been off for the same amount of time and I’m sure they’ll be keen to get off to a winning start as well.”
Although there won’t be any fans in the stadium to welcome Chris back to Firhill, he’s hoping the team can put on a performance to put a smile on supporters’ faces.
“I think everyone involved with the club is delighted to have the football back including the fans who will have missed it every bit as much as the players. It’s now up to us to go and play winning football and give them something to cheer about from home so hopefully we can do that.”
More exclusive preview interviews with Alan Archibald and Shea Gordon will be available for JagZone subscribers to watch today – log in to view.
JagZone subscribers will be able to tune in to live audio commentary for this weekend’s clash with Cove Rangers – click here to tune in.
There will also be a pay-per-view option, priced at £10, for non-season ticket holders who wish to watch our live stream of the match – click here for more info.
We’ll have extended highlights and a full game replay of our clash with Cove on JagZone this Saturday evening.
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