Cardle admits Thistle must improve

JOE CARDLE is insistent Partick Thistle can recover from their ignominious start in time to face the Championship favourites on Friday night.

Cardle, who rescued a point in Clackmannanshire, fully accepts Partick were woeful and ultimately fortunate not to have suffered a more damaging fate.

However, he believes they can iron out their deficiencies ahead of a visit from Dundee United, who opened the season in spectacular fashion with a 4-1 win over Inverness.

Cardle said: “We know ourselves we weren’t at it from start to finish. We’ve got to look at next Friday now.

“Looking at the way we shaped up first half, myself playing up front is all very new to me. I’ve not played that position for quite a long time.

“We’re frustrated because we know we can do so much better - both defensively and attacking.

“We’ve got to go and look at the video now but you’ve got to look at the positives. At least we’ve picked up something today.

“It could have been 100 times worse if we came away with nothing so I’m just glad we’ve come away with a point at least. “United seem to be one of the stronger teams in the league and we know it’s going to be a tough game.

“Hopefully on a grass pitch and the way we have performed at home, we can get the ball down and play the football we know we can.”

Thistle were completely outplayed in the first half when Alloa should have scored more than the one goal they achieved.

It came in 34 minutes when Alan Trouten stuck out a boot to divert Steven Hetherington’s low shot past Jamie Sneddon.

A half-time fileting from Gary Caldwell evoked a response from Partick, who found an equaliser when Cardle followed up in 60 minutes after his header had been pushed onto the bar by Neil Parry.

The Wasps showed they are just as resolute and organised under Peter Grant as they were when Jim Goodwin was boss.

And goalkeeper Parry insists Celtic stalwart Grant can make them even better.

Parry said: “The new gaffer has been great. He’s been good at slowly bringing in his ideas because obviously things had been working previously.

“He’s got his own way of thinking and we saw that on Saturday playing out from the back a bit more which worked well for us.

“The experience the gaffer has got, you can’t buy that, and we look forward going further into the season.” JORDAN MARSHALL has warned Dundee will need plenty more of the ‘guts’ and ‘bravery’ they showed in rescuing a point against Dunfermline as they hunt promotion this season.

The Dark Blues were staring at an opening-day defeat that threatened to be a heavy one after a woeful first-half display at East End Park on Friday night.

But some harsh words from new boss James McPake - and the players themselves - sparked a second-half turnaround that earned them a 2-2 draw, thanks to Danny Johnson’s second penalty 15 minutes from time.

Marshall knows from four years with Queen of the South how difficult a Championship campaign can be, but the defender reckons