MIDAS TOUCH IN MARYHILL
Miracle-worker Doolan praised by Turner
OVER the past few months, a trend has emerged in Scottish football of caretaker managers stepping up and exceeding all expectations.
Barry Robson took Aberdeen from the depths of despair post-Darvel and guided them to third place and European football, winning seven games on the bounce at one point.
Stuart Kettlewell’s effect on Motherwell was similarly transformative. Mired in a relegation battle when he took over in February, the Steelmen won nine of the following 14 games to finish the season as one of the form teams in the country.
Steven MacLean took the reins at St Johnstone and duly guided them to Premiership safety, while it remains to be seen if Hearts will hand Steven Naismith the job on a full-time basis.
Yet, in the season of caretaker bosses stepping out of the shadows, what is currently unfolding at Firhill could well top the lot.
After the bizarre sacking of Ian McCall following a Scottish Cup defeat at Ibrox in February, Partick Thistle’s season could have gone down the drain.
That they now stand just 90 minutes from winning promotion to the Premiership speaks of the remarkable job done by Kris Doolan, the man with the Midas touch in Maryhill.
Doolan admitted after Thursday night’s 2-0 victory over Ross County in the first leg of the play-off final that he is still very much ‘learning on the job’.
‘Every game for me is the biggest game of my managerial career,’ he joked. ‘I don’t have that bank of hundreds of games’ worth of experience to call on.’
Doolan’s success comes against the backdrop of personal tragedy after the death of his dad, Lawrence, on the eve of their play-off tie with Queen’s Park last month.
The fact he is also a club legend at Thistle, having scored over 100 goals for the Jags, makes his story all the more compelling.
Doolan has liberated this group of players. They are a joy to watch, playing with a sense of freedom and expression.
Since he was appointed, Thistle have only lost once in 18 games. They are finishing the season like a steam train, scoring 18 goals in their five play-off games thus far.
Given the backstory, the sense of tragedy, the style of football, the way in which the club now feels united, it’s impossible to avoid the feeling that Thistle are very much on the up.
‘The gaffer has been great since he came in,’ said midfielder Kyle Turner. ‘He has had a hard time in the last few weeks and it has been tough for him.
‘But when he came in, the first thing he said was to try to get to the Premiership. He constantly goes on about it in the changing room and how we want to get there.
‘It is the top league in Scotland and he instilled a belief in us that we can do this. So far, so good.
‘We sense that there is something special building here. Since the gaffer has come in, we have a siege mentality and we keep going to see what happens.
‘In five games, we have scored 18 goals and only conceded three, so he has definitely instilled a belief in us.
‘He wants us to be free and go and play our own game and it has worked so far. It would be massive to get Partick back to the Premiership.
‘We were disappointed this season and we should have been challenging in the final games but we slipped up a few times and we weren’t happy with that.
‘We finished fourth and we had to play six games in the play-offs. We felt the worst we should have finished was second.
‘When we got past Queen’s Park, then the belief started to grow and we want to put it right.
‘We know Sunday will be tough and County will throw everything at us so we have to be ready.’
The quality of Thistle’s finishing was superb on the night, with Aidan Fitzpatrick and Brian Graham putting County to the sword.
But Doolan felt that his team had perhaps let their opponents off lightly, given the one-sided nature of the game.
‘We put on a good performance,’ said Turner (right). ‘We were actually disappointed we didn’t score more goals. We had a lot of chances in the second half but County defended well and threw bodies in front of the ball to make it hard for us. ‘If someone had said to us we would win 2-0, then we would have been happy. ‘But the way the game went with them down to ten men, with the chances we created, on another day we would have scored more.’ Given that County were comprehensively outplayed at Firhill, the only consolation is the fact that they only face a two-goal deficit. The tie remains very much alive ahead of the second leg in Dingwall — and striker Jordan White insists they will do everything in their power to preserve their Premeirship status. ‘I don’t think I would have taken 2-0 at any time but under the circumstances we have done well to come out the way we have,’ said the County forward. ‘The first half wasn’t how we wanted it to go but we have a game to put it right now on Sunday. ‘We have to believe we can turn it around. There’s no point turning up thinking you can’t do it as you are on to a loser then. ‘It is only half-time in the tie. It all comes down to Sunday now and we have to look after ourselves and put in a performance. ‘We have to put our bodies on the line as we have 90 minutes left to save our season. No one in the dressing room wants a relegation on their CV.’
WATCHING BRIEF...
ROSS COUNTY (0) v PARTICK TH (2) Kick-off: 4.30pm tomorrow, Global Energy Stadium. TV: LIVE on Sky Sports Football. Referee: Nick Walsh.