McCarthy loved Brown war of words

ANDREW McCARTHY went head to head with Celtic skipper Scott Brown on Wednesday night — and admits he relished every minute of it. The 19-year-old Thistle midfielder was tasked with keeping the Parkhead linchpin in check and, despite the final scoreline, he stuck to Brown manfully before being withdrawn on 58 minutes. It was McCarthy’s first league start for the Jags since a 2-2 draw at Tynecastle in May and the youngster is hopeful his injury problems are over. ‘I enjoyed going up against Scott Brown,’ said McCarthy. ‘He likes the physical side of football and so do I. ‘It was a battle and that’s always good. Did we have some banter on the pitch? Aye, we were talking rubbish. ‘It was probably me more than him. You need to get used to a player like him winding you up, and I was doing the same back. ‘It’s part of football. You give it out and you get it back. I just laughed at it. ‘You show people respect in football but you don’t let them bully you on the pitch, or get in your head. I try to make my opponent uncomfortable, and maybe that’s why the manager played me.’ Despite a spirited performance, the Premiership’s bottom side were undone by two moments of brilliance — and the level of importance placed on tomorrow’s trip to Hamilton was only elevated. Accies have pulled off a number of vital wins recently against Rangers and Ross County and the Energy Check Stadium clash will be a tough test as Thistle try to stay within touching distance of their relegation rivals. ‘Saturday is an important game and hopefully we can bounce back and get the result,’ added McCarthy. ‘I do think it’s close to clicking. It was hard against Celtic but we don’t think we are too far away. ‘In some games, it has clicked for spells but hopefully we can get some consistency. ‘Every year, we seem to start bad. That shouldn’t happen but hopefully we will turn it round.’