Match Preview
Although kick-off has been put back 24 hours from the traditional Saturday afternoon start time it has been some time since there has been just anticipation surrounding a Thistle fixture as there is for tomorrow's game with Dundee. It is not hard to understand why.
Last Saturday St Johnstone's long unbeaten run finally came to an end at the same time as Thistle were busy recording their first victory at East End Park for 26 long years. Those two results combined to take Thistle to within just one point of league leaders St Johnstone. While a St Johnstone victory against Airdrie United this afternoon would see the gap increase for at least a further 24 hours there is an increasingly feeling that Thistle can be involved in the promotion shake up come the end of the season.
As do Dundee, our opponents at Firhill tomorrow. Dundee sit just one place below Thistle in the league table and with both teams probably feeling that they need to win to maintain a promotion challenge tomorrow's fixture should be a real cracker.
Thistle manager Ian McCall though was trying to keep things low key when he spoke to www.ptfc.co.uk.
"We are trying to avoid all talk about league titles and promotion which is why I have prevented the players from speaking to the media this week. We just want everyone to concentrate on the job in hand which tomorrow is trying to collect three points against Dundee. Anything that happens after that will take care of itself."
No Thistle supporter will need any reminding that we don't possess the largest of the squads and because of that there is always a touch of anxiety when it comes injuries. The manager was able to provide us with the latest news on that front.
"Alan Archibald, Simon Donnelly Stephen McKeown and Paul Paton didn't train on Friday but we had hoped that all four would return for Saturday's training session. Of the four it looks as if Simon Donnelly might be struggling to make a place on the bench."
"Liam Buchanan was back in light training this week which is good news but tomorrow's game will come just a bit too soon for him. We are hopeful, however, that he will be available to play some part in the game with St Johnstone in a fortnight's time."
"John Robertson, who played so well against Dunfermline last weekend, is now back in full training and Willie Kinniburgh, who postponed his surgery scheduled for Friday, will be in the squad for tomorrow's game."
"The break we will get after the Dundee game couldn't come at a better time for us. It will give some of the injuries that we have about the place a bit of time to clear up. At present we have to be very careful with what we do in training. We naturally have to make sure that the players keep their fitness levels up but at the same time we have to be careful not to pick up any additional injuries. We can ill afford to lose players to knocks picked up in training."
"Tomorrow's game is obviously a very important one and were we to win it would set up quite a game with St Johnstone in a fortnight. Over and above all that one thing that I have been trying to stress to the players is that tomorrow's game gives them the opportunity to make up for the result against Clyde in our last game. That was a bitterly disappointing result and one that still rankles. It rankles with the players because of the criticism they received in the wake of it. We didn't play well that day but after having watched the video we feel that we should have been at least a couple ahead before Jonny Tuffey's mistake. That mistake changed the game."
"Just a word about Jonny. That mistake was, to the best of my recollection, the first mistake that he has made since I came to the club. He is an outstanding goalkeeper and he underlined that fact with two clean sheets in the game's immediately after the Clyde match. I felt that it was important that we showed faith in him and he rewarded us for that faith. To be honest we expected little else."
Dundee meantime hope to be able to add both Colin Cameron and Jim Lauchlan to their squad.
With Dundee laying on free buses for their supporters, five have already been filled, there should be a cracking atmosphere inside Firhill for the fixture and we would urge each and every Thistle supporter to get right behind the team from the first to last whistle and provide the level of support that Thistle fans have become renowned for.
Supporters are reminded that tomorrow's game kicks-off at 3:15pm.
Thistle Stats
Current Form - Last Five Games
W D L F A
4 0 1 8 3
Scorers Season 2008/2009
Gary Harkins 11
Stephen McKeown 7
Liam Buchanan 6
Kris Doolan 5
Scott Chaplain 4
Damon Gray 4
Ian Maxwell 4
Paul Paton 3
Simon Donnelly 2
Kevin McKinlay 1
Mark Roberts 1
John Robertson 1
David Rowson 1
Chris Turner 1
Marc Twaddle 1
Own Goals 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Dunfermline Athletic 0, Partick Thistle 1
Dundee Stats
Current Form - Last Five Games
W D L F A
3 1 1 10 5
Scorers Season 2008/2009
Mickael Antoine-Curier 14
Colin McMenamin 4
Eric Paton 4
Georgios Efrem 2
Bryan Deasley 1
Paul McHale 1
Christopher Posniak 1
Andrew Shinnie 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Dundee 2, Ross County 0
Last Meeting
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday December 20th 2008
Dundee 0, Partick Thistle 0
Teams
Dundee: Douglas, Williams (Daquin), Malone (Forsyth), McHale, McKeown, Lauchlan, Shinnie, Pozniak, Antoine-Curier, Deasleyn (McMenamin), O'Brien.
Thistle: Tuffey, Paton, Twaddle, Storey, Kinniburgh (Donnelly), Robertson, McKinlay, Rowson, Buchanan, Roberts, Harkins.
Crowd: 3,569
Match Details
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Partick Thistle v Dundee
Kick-off: 3:15pm
Prices
Adults: £15
OAPs/Students:16-21 £10
Under 16s: FREE
Programme: £2.50
Match Officials
Referee: David Somers
Assistant Referees: John Gilmour & Michael Wilson
Fourth Official: Alan Muir
