Losing to us gave Dees a Dens spark
Al says they helped Dundee with win
ALAN ARCHIBALD insists Partick Thistle are due a note of thanks from Dundee for the back-handed favour of inflicting a defeat on the Dark Blues two months ago.
The Jags boss believes Paul Hartley’s side haven’t looked back since a 2-0 loss in October which triggered a reversal of fortunes after a 10-match winless run.
As the pair prepare for another duel at Firhill tonight, Archibald, below, is adamant the Dark Blues are a side transformed from the one they faced two months ago.
He said: “We went up there and turned them over and then they went to Hamilton and changed their system. Ever since then they have been fantastic.
“We probably helped turn Dundee’s season around.
“They went to Hamilton with a back three and have stuck to that ever since and have had some good performances and victories. They built on that the other night with a great comeback against Hearts.
“So we know how tough it is going to be. Paul has done fantastically well since losing key players at the start of the season.” Thistle’s festive celebrations kicked off with a win at Ross County on Friday night which ended a prolonged period at the foot of the Premiership. It was a 3-1 victory which Archibald believes was ideally timed to banish any prospect of turning the last few days into a black Christmas. He said: “It was really important because you can’t go on playing well but not taking anything. Thankfully we got that result. “It let the lads enjoy their Christmas and we were off the bottom for a few days. We want to do that again so that we are not going into the winter break looking at ourselves on the bottom. “We scored some good goals as well and that had been coming in terms of our performances so we were delighted to get the three points. “They deserved their win.”