Partick Thistle Football Club

Football for Thistle, albeit in as low key circumstances as you could possibly find, returned on Saturday afternoon. Saturday's 4-1 win against Cowdenbeath at Edinburgh University marked the end of the first stage of Thistle's pre-season preparation and after the game www.ptfc.co.uk caught up with manager Ian McCall who was able to provide his thoughts and insight on a number of areas.

"Firstly, I have to thank Norman Springford for allowing us to use his first class Apex Hotel in Edinburgh at a rate that we could afford."

"The few days that we managed to get away have proved to be more than useful. The training facilities that we used at Edinburgh University were good and we managed to do some hard work. The players got up at 5:30am every morning and went for a swim. We then had training sessions at 10am and again at 4pm. I was impressed with the way that the players had kept themselves in shape during the summer and that plus the hard work they've put in since pre-season training was of benefit when we played Cowdenbeath on Saturday. Although this was really no more than a training game it was played in energy sapping conditions and our fitness levels had to be good."

"We won the game 4-1 and while it is important not to read anything into scores at this stage of pre-season training I was pleased to see the four goals shared equally among four different players. I was impressed too with the performances from Paul Cairney and Chris Erskine."

"It was pleasing too to see Liam Buchanan and Stephen McKeown back in the fold and fit. Indeed I would say that they are ahead of where we thought they would be at this stage. Liam has been looking really sharp in pre-season training so far."

"Just before Saturday's game I signed Bryan Hodge who had previously been with Blackburn Rovers. Bryan is a player that I have been aware of for some time now and I'm delighted to have brought him to Firhill on a 2 year deal. It was difficult to make any real judgement on anyone during the game on Saturday but it was obvious that Bryan is a talented player and he will benefit and develop from his first season as a first team regular. He has a very impressive pedigree and I think that some of the players were surprised that we managed to sign a player of his calibre within our wage structure. While we have Bryan on a two year deal it is possible, and I don't want to put too much pressure on him here, that we won't have him at Firhill for whole of those two years."   

"The search for further additions to the squad continues. I feel we could do with a player that can play in wide positions and two strikers. We've another close door friendly this week and we will be fielding another couple of trialists in that match, one of which is a 6ft3 striker. This match will be played on Astroturf and because that surface isn't the best for players returning from injury we will be leaving out the likes of Alan Archibald, Liam Buchanan and Stephen McKeown ."

"I know there has been some speculation recently surrounding Marc Twaddle. Marc is an important player and one that I am naturally keen to keep at Firhill. I don't think Marc is in any hurry to leave Firhill."