Match Preview
While Thistle failed to close the gap on league leaders St Johnstone last weekend there is still much to play for this season. Fifteen games remain to be played and with the league leaders just a six points above Thistle a positive run now could make for an interesting closing few months of the season.
Ahead of Saturday's trip to Queen of the South manager Ian McCall brought www.ptfc.co.uk up to speed with all the latest team and transfer news.
"Liam Buchanan has been training with a physio elsewhere this week but he will back with us tomorrow and word from the player is that he will be fit to play on Saturday. The only players that will be unavailable then are John Robertson and Ian Maxwell both of whom will be missing for some weeks yet."
"We are working hard on trying to bring Lucas Akins to Firhill on loan from Hamilton Accies. I can't say at the moment whether we will be able to do that but we are presently in discussions with the player. He is a young lad with a real physical presence and is exactly the type of player that we have been looking for."
"There have been one or two people on the phone asking about Mark Roberts. I expect that transfer activity everywhere will really start to heat up over the course of the next week or so in the lead up to the January transfer window closing. Telling Mark that he was free to leave was no easy thing to do . He's a player that I'm close to having worked with him at a variety of different clubs. If by the end of the month he hasn't moved on I wouldn't be overly unhappy. That would give him another three months to prove me wrong and show that he is worth another contract. One thing that I know that he won't let me down on is his work ethic. He demonstrated that in training today where he was just about the hardest working player."
"With 15 games to play there is still plenty to play for. Last season we finished the season in sixth position and anything above that this season is improvement. That said I believe that we have the type of players at the Club are capable of going on a wee run and win three of four games on the trot. If we could do that you may find us putting pressure on those immediately above us in the league table."
"I really can't understand what has happened with Queen of the South. It's a mystery really why they have gone from top of the table at the start of the season to a position at the wrong end of the table. They are a good team with good players and a good manager. Regardless of their present form it will need a good performance from us on Saturday to collect maximum points."
Thistle Stats
Current Form - Last Five Games
W D L F A
1 1 3 4 9
Scorers Season 2008/2009
Gary Harkins 8
Stephen McKeown 7
Liam Buchanan 4
Damon Gray 4
Ian Maxwell 4
Scott Chaplain 3
Simon Donnelly 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
Partick Thistle 0, St Johnstone 0
Queen of the South Stats
Current Form - Last Five Ga mes
W D L F A
0 1 4 4 10
Scorers Season 2008/2009
Stephen Dobbie 8
Stewart Kean 5
Sean O'Connor 5
David Weatherston 3
Gary Arbuckle 2
Craig Barr 2
Bob Harris 2
Jamie McQuilken 2
Barry Wilson 2
Paul Burns 1
Michael McGowan 1
Jim Thomson 1
Steve Tosh 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Ross County 1, Partick Thistle 0
Last Meeting
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday November 1st 2008
Partick Thistle 2, Queen of the South 0
Teams
Thistle: Tuffey, Paton, McKinlay, Robertson, Maxwell, Kinniburgh (Chaplain), McKeown, Rowson, Buchanan (Gray), Donnelly, Harkins.
Queen of the South: Bell, Barr (Reid), Sives, Thomson, McQuilken, Burns, McFarlane, McGowan (Kean), Tosh, O'Connor, Dobbie.
Scorers
Thistle: McKinlay (45), Harkins (870
Crowd: 2,971
Match Details
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday January 24th 2009
Queen of the South v Partick Thistle
Prices
Adults £15
Concessions (OAPs/Students) £6
Under 16s £3
Prices as per the official Queen of the South website
Saturday's Other Fixtures
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Airdrie United v Dundee
Clyde v Ross County
Morton v Livingston
St Johnstone v Dunfermline Athletic
Referee: E Norris
