Match Preview
This evening we have the very real pleasure of welcoming to Firhill English League One side Bristol Rovers for our final, and only home, pre-season friendly. The second time that Bristol Rovers have made Firhill a port of call on a pre-season trip to Scotland, the previous meeting between the two teams coming back in 1982.
Rovers’ trip to Scotland sees them play two matches ahead of the start of their season which starts with a fixture against Peterborough United on August 7th. The first of their two matches on their trip north of the border was against Morton on Saturday and evidence that they will provide a stern test can be provided by the 3-1 win that they recorded at Cappielow.
While Rovers were facing Morton at the weekend we were in action in a friendly of our own against a Celtic XI at Lennoxtown and was, as far as manager Ian McCall was concerned when he spoke with www.ptfc.co.uk, another useful exercise.
“I was pretty pleased with the way things went on Saturday and we really should have put the game to bed before Celtic scored an equaliser in bizarre circumstances. We moved the ball about well on a good playing surface and Ian Flannigan scored a really good goal. One frustrating thing though was that we had Liam Buchanan, Jackie McNamara, Alan Archibald and Simon Donnelly all working in the gym rather than playing which obviously I would rather they were doing.”
“It’s going to be something similar against Bristol Rovers tonight. Jackie McNamara and Alan Archibald obviously miss out and so too will Simon Donnelly, Chris Erskine and Ian Flannigan. From those five players you are looking at virtually four certain starters if fit so it isn’t an ideal situation. Truth is Simon Donnelly and Ian Flannigan could probably play tonight at a push but so close to the start of the competitive action we don’t want to risk them. Chris Erskine meantime has had an injection in his knee and should be back in full training with us on Thursday.”
“It will, therefore, be quite a young team that we will field against Bristol Rovers and I will need to make a decision as to whether we should try and go out and win the game or try to bed in a formation and system that we might use against Clyde on Saturday, ideally we can do both. Either way the game is an ideal match to get at this stage of our pre-season preparation.”
The manager was also able to provide us with an update on the current transfer situation
“I thought Conrad Balatoni who played against Celtic as a trialist did well and brining him in on loan is option that we will try and pursue. We are trying to fix up another friendly match which would allow us to have another look at him. We are a little short at the back in terms of numbers at present especially with Alan Archibald injured and that is something that I would like to address. I’ll need to speak to the Board of Directors and see if there is anything that we can do on that front and it would obviously depend on us coming to some kind of arrangement with Hearts that would make bringing Balatoni to Firhill affordable for us.”
“We are trying too to conclude deals with Bryn Halliwell and Ian Flannigan and obviously if we want them to be available to play against Clyde on Saturday we would need to get something done on that front this week.”
Match Details
Pre-Season Friendly
Tuesday July 20th 2010
Partick Thistle v Bristol Rovers
Kick-off: 7:30pm
Prices
Adults: £10
Concessions: £5
Programme: £1.50
Season Tickets Valid
Previous Meeting
Pre-Season Friendly
Saturday August 7th 1982
Partick Thistle 1, Bristol Rovers 2
Teams
Thistle
Rough, Murray (G Docherty), Lapsley, Whittaker, Dunlop, Watson (Clark), Park, Jardine, Johnstone, McDonald, Kenny (McDowell).
Bristol Rovers
Kite, McDowell (Platnauer), Slatter, G Williams, Stephens (Randall), McCaffrey, Curle, Parkin (Holloway), Hughes (Barratt), Kelly, B Williams.
Scorers
Thistle: Johnston (30)
Rovers: Kelly (37), B Williams (75)
Match Officials
Referee: Bobby Madden
Assistant Referees: Charlie Smith and Steven McFaulds
