McCall desperate for win as Jags boss lays down a marker for Cole
ANOTHER week, another pair of decisive fixtures in Partick Thistle’s quest to beat the drop again this season.
The Jags required a 3-0 win over Queen of the South on the final day of the 2018/19 campaign in order to salvage their Championship status and with the club embroiled in a relegation dogfight once more, another frantic dash to finish line beckons for Ian McCall’s side.
After a goalless draw with Queens last Tuesday, Thistle had to settle for a share of the spoils at Tannadice on Saturday afternoon and while green shoots of recovery are visible to McCall, the Firhill manager stresses that it is points on the board, and not performances, that his side need to be racking up ahead of tonight’s visit of Dunfermline.
“We haven’t turned a corner in terms of points because we’ve only won two points but the last game-and-a-half the players have done really well,” he said. “We’re far more solid and settled. There are still one or two boys getting up to speed fitness-wise and they’ll be important for us.
“We came away from Tannadice pretty disappointed that we had only drawn. We gave them a goal [via an error from Reece Cole] but the best thing about it was how Cole responded to that. He was terrific after that. We had a couple of great chances before they scored and we should have been ahead.”
“I was really pleased with how we played but I said last week that performances don’t really matter, it’s wins. But we have got an opportunity now to try and get a win against a team who have got as much to play for as us because they’re just outside the play-offs.”
United forged an early lead on Tayside when Dillon Powers capitalised on a loose ball from Cole but to his credit, the Thistle midfielder responded well. After a shaky spell of form since the turn of the year, McCall is confident that the on-loan Brentford player can get back to his best for the Jags – so long as he follows the example set by
Partick Thistle stalwart Stuart Bannigan.
“He’s an important player for us,” McCall said. “He came on against Queen of the South and he changed the game for us. I thought he played very well but he needs to get up to the same level of intensity that Stuart Bannigan showed on Saturday. So does young Penrice when he’s playing in [midfield] but I was really pleased with Cole. I was pleased with a lot of our performance and I’m gutted we didn’t get the three points.”
The Thistle boss cut a frustrated figure in the aftermath of his side’s 1-1 draw at the weekend but he conceded that should tonight’s result go his way, then all of a sudden a point away to the runaway league leaders could well be perceived as one gained as opposed to two dropped.
He added: “If we go and win tonight that’s exactly how I’ll feel. If we win against Dunfermline then it looks like a good point and sets us up for a big game against Alloa on Saturday.”
Dunfermline forward Jonathan Afolabi, meanwhile, says he is prepared to carry the goalscoring mantle for the Pars with top scorer Kevin Nisbet ruled out of tonight’s game with injury.
The on-loan Celtic striker opened his Dunfermline account with a tap-in against Dundee United aand grabbed his side’s equaliser in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Queen of the South.
He told the club’s website: “It’s a good challenge for all of us to try and fill the void that [Nisbet] has left but I’m sure he’ll be back in a couple of weeks. In that time we have to do what we can to get our names on the score sheet.”