Match Preview
Last Saturday Thistle suffered defeat at the hands of Dunfermline in cruel fashion. It is important though if Thistle have aspirations of putting pressure on those sides immediately above us in the league that victory is recorded against Morton this weekend.
As manager Ian McCall reveals to www.ptfc.co.uk he doesn't have his problems to seek in terms of injuries.
"I thought that we were really unfortunate to lose against Dunfermline last Saturday. I felt that we put a lot into the game and at the very least we should have taken at least a point from the game."
"That defeat meant that we dropped from second in the league and If we have any aspirations of challenging at the top end of the table then there is no doubt that we have to defeat Morton on Saturday. That said, I maintain that any finish in the league higher than last season's of sixth would represent progress for us."
"It's really difficult at the moment to have any real clue as to the side that we will field against Morton. We have a number of injuries to contend with and we didn't have the biggest of squads to select from in the first place."
" At present there are real doubts over John Robertson, Willie Kinniburgh, Kevin McKinlay, Marc Twaddle and Liam Buchanan. Add to that we have Ian Maxwell suspended for Saturday's game. The encouraging thing is that everyone took some part in training on Thursday but it could well be that for some Saturday's game will come a little too soon. We could also have players playing who are less than 100% fit. "
"That's something that Liam Buchanan has been doing for a few weeks now and at the moment it looks like he will have to sit this weekend's fixture out. You need only to look at the contribution that Liam has made while short of full fitness to realise just how big a blow that is to us. I'm of the firm view that were Liam at full fitness and played the whole season that he would score 20 plus goals for us."
"On the plus side Kris Doolan has been showing up well and looks like a player with a real chance of making it and Lucas Akins could well be available."
"It's been unfortunate that we have had key players missing injured or playing while not fully fit and we will be giving players like Liam Buchanan, Alan Archibald and Stephen McKeown specific programmes to work on over the summer months to help make sure that they come back for next season in the peak of condition."
Current Form - Last Five Games
W D L F A
1 2 2 5 8
Scorers Season 2008/2009
Gary Harkins 8
Stephen McKeown 7
Liam Buchanan 6
Scott Chaplain 4
Damon Gray 4
Ian Maxwell 4
Simon Donnelly 2
Kris Doolan 2
Paul Paton 2
Kevin McKinlay 1
Mark Roberts 1
John Robertson 1
Chris Turner 1
Marc Twaddle 1
Own Goals 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday February 14th 2009
Partick Thistle 2, Dunfermline Athletic 3
Morton Stats
Current Form - Last Five Games
W &nbs p; D L F A
1 4 0 6 4
Scorers Season 2008/2009
Ryan McGuffie 7
Brian Wake 7
Peter Weatherson 7
Steven Masterton 5
Iain Russell 4
Erik Paartalu 3
Allan Jenkins 2
James Grady 1
Stewart Greacen 1
Ryan Harding 1
Jon Newby 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday January 31st 2009
Morton 0, St Johnstone 0
Last Meeting
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Tuesday December 30th 2008
Morton 2, Partick Thistle 0
Teams
Morton: Stewart, McGregor, Shimmin, Greacen, Walker, Finlayson, Masterton, Jenkins, McAlister, Grady (Wake), Weatherson.
Thistle: Tuffey, Paton, McKinlay (Storey), Robertson, Kinniburgh, Archibald, McKeown, Rowson, Buchanan (Lennon), Roberts, Harkins (Chaplain).
Scorers
Morton: Masterton (17), Weatherson (65)
Crowd: 2,385
Match Details
Irn-Bru Scottish League First division
Saturday February 21st 2009
Partick Thistle v Morton
Prices
Adults: £15
OAPs/Students:16-21 £10
Under 16s: FREE
Programme: £2.50
Weekend's Other First Division Fixtures
Airdrie United v Clyde (Sunday)
Dundee v Livingston
Dunfermline Athletic v Ross County
Queen of the South v St Johnstone
