Match Preview
After a welcome three points against Morton last Saturday we set aside the pursuit of league points this weekend when our attention turns towards Sunday's ALBA Challenge Cup tie with Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
Our record in the Challenge Cup over the years hasn't been, to say the least, overly impressive with last season's semi-final appearance against Airdrie United the furthest we had progressed in 12 attempts.
There is some real determination, therefore, to improve upon that this season with Ian McCall, when chatting to www.ptfc.co.uk, looked back to some memorable Challenge Cup moments of his own.
"As a player I played in a winning Challenge Cup team in a final played in front of a 13,500 crowd and I also managed a team to a Challenge Cup win. Both were marvellous occasions and hopefully we can give the Jags fans a similarly marvellous occasion this season. That would make up for the disappointment of losing to Airdrie United in last season's semi-final, albeit I didn't think we deserved to lose, and go some small way to make up for the disappointment of being knocked out of the League Cup by Queen of the South."
Before we can even begin to think of a place in the semi-final far less a final date in November we have the no small matter of negotiating our way pass Inverness Caledonian Thistle and the Thistle manager was able to bring us up to speed with the latest team news.
"The wet weather has meant that our preparation hasn't been ideal. When it is wet as it has been this week we struggle to get a grass surface to train on and have to train on Astroturf. When we train on that surface we don't let the likes of Liam Buchanan and Jim Hamilton train on it but they will both be fine for Sunday,"
"One player that will miss out is Stephen McKeown. We sent Stephen to a specialist during the week and he has been advised to rest for a couple of weeks so as to help recover from an Achilies problem that has been bothering him for some time."
"Otherwise I have a full squad to select from with the obvious exception of Jonny Tuffey who is on international duty with Northern Ireland. With Jonny away he will be replaced by Craig Hinchcliffe something that I have absolutely no hesitation in doing. Craig's last game was against Liverpool in Alan archibald's testimonial match and he did really well and I've no reason to think he won't do the same against Inverness on Sunday. Indeed I hope that I will have a very difficult decision to make should we manage to reach the final. Jonny will be away on the date of the semi-final as well and if Craig plays in a winning team on Sunday and again in the semi-final he would have a pretty strong case to play ion the final."
Thistle Stats
Scorers Season 2009/2010
Liam Buchanan 5
Simon Donnelly 3
Paul Cairney 2
Mark Corcoran 2
Chris Erskine 2
Jim Hamilton 2
Kris Doolan 1
Bryan Hodge 1
David Rowson 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday August 29th 2009
Partick Thistle 5, Morton 0
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Stats
Scorers Season 2009/2010
Danni Sanchez 3
Lee Cox 2
Robert Eagle 2
Richie Foran 2
Adam Rooney 2
Nauris Bulvitis 1
Jonathan Hayes 1
Dougie Imrie 1
Grant Munro 1
Own Goals 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday August 29th 2009
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 1, Ross County 3
Last Meeting
T he Homecoming Scottish Cup Fourth Round
Saturday January 10th 2009
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 3, Partick Thistle 0
Teams
Inverness: Fraser, Tokley, Mihadjuks, Munro, Djebi-Zadi (Hastings), Morais (Rooney), Duncan (Gatuesi), McBain, Vigurs, Cowie, Barrowman.
Thistle: Tuffey, Paton, Twaddle, Storey, Robertson (Roberts), Archibald, McKinlay (Doolan), Rowson, Buchanan (Chaplain), Donnelly, Harkins.
Scorers
Inverness: Morais (27 and 55), Vigurs (46)
Crowd: 1,803
Match Details
ALBA Challenge Cup Quarter-Final
Sunday September 6th 2009
Partick Thistle v Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Match Officials
Referee: William Collum
Assistant Referees: George Drummond and Brian Templeton
