Match Preview
Tomorrow afternoon Thistle head down to Greenock hoping to build upon last weekend’s excellent home win against Dundee and they do so with virtually a full squad to select from with Jackie McNamara tasting action for the first time since his leg break last season, in a close door match with Rangers during the week.
As manager Ian McCall explained to www.ptfc.co.uk though Jackie’s return to first team action won’t be rushed.
“The game with Rangers was one in which we fielded a largely inexperienced side against a Rangers side with some strong players and trialists eager to impress. The game though served it’s purpose for us which was to get Jackie McNamara some playing time which he did, playing half of the game. He did really well but we won’t be rushing him back and it will probably be another 2-3 weeks before he is back in contention for a place in the first team.”
“Alan Archibald too is making excellent progress and he should be back in training within about a week. Like Jackie though we won’t be rushing him back. We’ve won four of our five fixtures this season, albeit the one that we did lose was a terrible result, and that has to be considered a decent start to the season. If we can maintain that it allows Jackie and Alan time to build up their fitness and sharpness without the sense of being rushed back before they are completely ready.”
“Those two players we have virtually a clean bill of health for tomorrow’s game. The only other player that is set to miss out is Ryan MacBeth who has a very slight groin strain.”
“Ryan, as the Thistle fans know, is a young player that we have high hopes for as we do for a number of players. Kieran Burns for example is a player that I think will have a big part to play at Firhill in the next couple of years and I think he will feature strongly in the squad in the second half of this season. Meantime he’s a player that I would consider sending out on loan for a few months so he can get some first team football.”
“We are obviously very keen to follow up last week’s win against Dundee with another tomorrow against Morton but we know that the game will be a very difficult one indeed. There is no doubt that if we hope to pick up three points tomorrow that we will have to match the attitude and work ethic that we showed in defeating Dundee.”
“I’ll need to think about whether we will go with the same shape against Morton as we did against Dundee and we will certainly be working on a few things at training today.”
Partick Thistle Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
4 0 1 6 6
Scorers Season 2010/2011
- Paddy Boyle 1
- Liam Buchanan 1
- Paul Cairney 1
- Simon Donnelly 1
- Ryan MacBeth 1
- David Rowson 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday August 14th 2010
Partick Thistle 1, Dundee 0
Morton Stats
Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
1 2 2 8 6
Scorers Season 2010/2011
- Stewart Kean 2
- Kevin Kelbie 2
- Peter Weatherson 2
- Graeme Holmes 1
- Carlo Monti 1
Last Game
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday August 14th 2010
Dunfermline Athletic 2, Morton 0
Last Meeting
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday March 20th 2010
Morton 1, Partick Thistle 0
Teams
Morton: Cuthbert, McGuffie, Shimmin, MacGregor, McKinlay, Masteron (Finlayson), Tidser (Paartalu), Jenkins, McAlister, Weatherson (Graham), Simmons.
Thistle: Tuffey, Paton, Maxwell, McKeown (Lovell), Robertson, Archibald, Cairney, Rowson, Buchanan, Donnelly (Grehan), Corcoran (Erskine).
Scorer
Morton: McAlister (90)
Crowd: 2,163
Match Details
Irn-Bru Scottish League First Division
Saturday August 21st 2010
Morton v Partick Thistle
Kick-off: 3:00pm
Prices
- Adults £15
- Concessions £10
- Parent & Child £18
- Child 12 - 16 years £5
- Children Under 12 years are admitted free of charge.
The Thistle supporters will be accommodated within the Main Stand and "The Wee Dublin End" behind the goal (this area is uncovered) for this fixture.
Match Officials
Referee: Brian Winter
Assistant Referees: Stuart Macaulay & Alistair Kerr
Travel
By Car
Car parking is available adjacent to the ground.
By Bus
Services from Glasgow stop just outside the park. There are also services from Port Glasgow and Gourock.
By Train
The nearest local station is Cartsdyke and is a five minute walk from the ground. There are two to three trains every hour from Glasgow and from Gourock.
Other First Division Fixtures
- Cowdenbeath v Queen of the South (Sunday)
- Dundee v Ross County
- Falkirk v Stirling Albion
- Raith Rovers v Dunfermline Athletic
