Friday 8th February, 2019 at 6:07pm
Kris Doolan is hoping Thistle can continue their good run of form and progress to the next round of the William Hill Scottish Cup.
Thistle travel to take on East Fife on Saturday and the striker admits it is a game everyone is thoroughly looking forward to.
Speaking exclusively to ptfc.co.uk he said: “It’s a game we are all looking forward to. It’s a chance to progress in the cup to the quarter finals which would be a decent cup run to coinciding with an upturn in results in the league.
“It’s a break from the league but a chance to, along with the results we’ve put together in the league recently, start to make the season look a lot brighter than it has done so far this season. It all comes together to paint a much better picture than we saw before Christmas.”
Doolan shares the excitement of the fans for the competition and is hoping for an enjoyable day for the Thistle faithful.
“We know Scottish Cup day is always a day the fans look forward to, especially a Scottish Cup away day, and the players are all looking forward to it too. The fans always back us and we know they’ll go in numbers so we’re looking forward to the atmosphere. Hopefully come full time we’ll all have something to be happy about and we can start looking forward to next week’s league match knowing that we remain unbeaten in 2019.”
After three wins in a row and five unbeaten Kris admits the dressing room is a whole lot happier, and believes that is showing on the pitch.
“Spirits are high in the squad just now. Everyone is confident and enjoying their football. They have a smile on their face every day coming into training and it’s a good place to be at the moment. That comes with winning games, it’s natural for that to come and it’s great to see everyone so buoyant just now.
“That feeling transfers into games, I think that has a lot to do with the improvement too, people are more willing to try things and there is a confidence there that we have been missing for some time now. When you aren’t doing well the play is very safe, people aren’t willing to try things, they are scared to make that mistake which will cost us the game. When you aren’t doing well these things are punished.
“Now, people are trying that riskier pass, they are playing that ball where before it would be side to side passes. That won’t hurt teams, we’ve spoken about that and now we are playing the killer pass that comes with confidence and winning games. Hopefully that can continue.”
Doolan knows how important keeping that run of form going is.
“Building on the momentum is important. We want people to be excited to come to the matches, that is what it’s all about – entertainment and getting that feel good factor about the club. A cup run will certainly help that and will transfer over into the league too.”
Thistle were defeated by their hosts earlier in the season when they were put out of the Irn Bru Cup. The Jags number nine knows they have to be at their best to avoid a repeat.
“We know first-hand it’s not a match that we can take lightly. We know what is at stake, we are desperate to get to the next round but we need to win the match and the only way to do that is to go out and perform on the pitch.
“We’ve seen just how well they can play, we know they are dangerous and we have to go there and make sure we keep up the momentum that we have going at the moment.”
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