Match Preview
Tomorrow afternoon the 2008/2009 First Division campaign gets underway with a visit to Firhill of Dunfermline Athletic.
The eve of a new league season is a time for all Clubs to look forward to the next ten months with hope and optimism and we are no different here at Firhill. Last season saw significant progress made with the Thistle fans warming to a squad that offered hope for the future. With many of last season’s squad secured for the forthcoming season manager Ian McCall was able to be a little more focused with his summer recruitment drive. Paul Paton and Ian Maxwell joined the Club a short time after the conclusion of the previous season and they were joined by Paul Cairney (who has been loaned back to Queens Park ) and, last Friday, by Damon Gray who started a second long loan stint at Firhill. The search for further additions to the Thistle squad is ongoing.
In the meantime manager Ian McCall was able to bring www.ptfc.co.uk bang up to date with the latest team news.
“With the exception of Alan Archibald and Liam Buchanan everyone is fit and available for selection. I’ve one or two decisions still to make with regard to the team for tomorrow’s game but I was happy with the way we started the season against Queens Park in the Challenge Cup last weekend. I was particularly pleased to see the two strikers, Damon Gray and Mark Roberts, get amongst the goals early in the season.”
Ian continued;
“We know that tomorrow’s game will be a very tough one, as tough as we could have got to start the league season with. There was virtually nothing between the two teams last season and I would expect it to be really close again tomorrow. I feel that both ourselves and Dunfermline are fairly solid at the back. The plus point for us is that the game is at home and we had, for the most part, a good record here at Firhill last season although there were a few too many draws.”
To finish Ian had a rallying call for the Thistle supporters.
“I’m hopeful that we can get the crowd tomorrow to above the 3,000 mark and I would remind everyone that under 16s get free entry to tomorrow’s game, as they do for all home league games. If we can get 3,000+ to Firhill tomorrow that should make for a good atmosphere which would be a massive lift for the players.”
Dunfermline have made a number of changes to the squad that had a disappointing campaign last time around.
Arriving at East End Park since the end of last season are Graham Bayne, Steven Bell (who is currently injured), Graeme Holmes, Austin McCann and Callum Reidford.
With those players added to a squad that already had a number of very talented players it is easy to see why Dunfermline are expected to mount a sustained promotion challenge this season.
Last season Thistle and Dunfermline met 5 times. At Firhill in the league the teams drew the first match 1-1 with Dunfermline becoming only the second team to win at Firhill in the league with a 1-0 success towards the end of the season.
At East End Park Dunfermline won 1-0 before a Stephen McKeown earned Thistle a rare away point against Dunfermline in the second half of the season.
Thistle’s solitary success against Dunfermline last season came in the Scottish Cup when a one goal deficit was turned into a 2-1 thanks to two Liam Buchanan goals (pictured are Liam and Scott Chaplain celebrating one of those goals).
