Thursday 13th January, 2022 at 3:36pm
The last time Thistle took on Kilmarnock they claimed a 1-0 victory at Rugby Park courtesy of an early Zak Rudden strike. There were plenty of brilliant performances on that none, not least from Jags midfielder Connor Murray who played a vital role in the midfield as the Maryhill men took all three points from Ayrshire. Now, as Killie come to Firhill for the second time this season, Murray is hoping to contribute to a similarly successful result. He spoke to ptfc.co.uk ahead of the game:
“It’s a game that everybody is looking forward to. The Friday night games under the lights are always a bit different and we just can’t wait to get going. I think we’re more than capable of doing well against them as we showed the last time we played them.”
Reflecting on last weekend’s draw against Hamilton, the Jags’ first game in three weeks, Connor felt the team could have got the win based on the chances they created.
“The team did well and we felt we’d probably done enough to win the game. It was quite an open game in the second half and both teams did have chances. If you look at the balance of play though then a draw probably was fair.
“Those last five minutes or so we were well on top though and with the score at 2-2 if we could have found a way to score then it would have been a winner but we need to put that behind us. Everyone’s trained well this week so we’re looking forward to another big fixture.”
Thistle and Killie have beaten each other once already this season with the Ayrshire side winning 2-0 at Firhill before the Jags’ triumph at Rugby Park and Murray is hoping Thistle can channel to positivity of that win on the road to get another result this week.
“We did really well when we went to their place and sort of executed the game plan perfectly. We know it’s not going to be easy to do that again but we have to take confidence from the way we managed that game and at home this time we’ll be looking to do a similar job.
“They’re a good team who seemed to get a boost from their new manager but we can only focus on ourselves. We did a lot better against the teams around us in the second quarter and we want to continue that on Friday. It’s a big game for both sides but we believe in ourselves.”
Finally, Connor spoke about the impact of the crowd restrictions on the game as Thistle prepare to play in front of a reduced number of 500 home supporters at Firhill.
“To be honest, I think it’s something we can’t think too much about. We definitely felt it having no away fans at Hamilton so at least having 500 will be great for us this week. Hopefully the fans who can get in make plenty of noise and we can use that to our advantage considering they’ll have no fans whatsoever.”
Exclusive video interviews with Thistle assistant manager Neil Scally and Kyle Turner will be available for JagZone subscribers to watch today – log in to view.
Due to current national restrictions on outdoor event attendances, a limited number of Thistle fans will be allowed to attend this fixture at Firhill. Entry to the game was decided by a ballot and fans who were successful have been notified.
A PPV live stream is available for supporters to purchase, priced at £12 – click here for more info.
We’ll have extended highlights and a full game replay of the fixture on JagZone following the game.
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