Bosses stay positive in midst of troubled times
Managers Ray Mckinnon and Gary Caldwell gave Theresa May a run for her money last night as both tried hard to put a positive spin on a less than ideal situation.
Yesterday’s stalemate at Falkirk Stadium enabled Thistle to avoid an eighth straight defeat and gave them their first away point of the season.
Falkirk picked up only their second home point, but aside from those small crumbs of comfort, the big picture makes bleak viewing.
Despite both clubs adding to their total, they remain behind Alloa in the bottom two positions in the Championship, a division both have ambitions of escaping from as they look to relive former glories in the top flight.
Caldwell is still waiting for his first win since replacing Alan Archibald as manager last month, yet he was far from downcast.
“I thought we were outstanding today,” he began. “We came away from home in a big game, a pressure game, and we dominated it. We needed to make their defenders work a bit more, but that’s something we can work on. We had a few little half-chances but they just didn’t fall for us.
“I’m absolutely delighted with how the players approached the game. Considering where we are in the table, they showed great bravery today. I know where we are as a team. I focus on the performance and I thought it was outstanding. We took a big hit in the Morton game (losing 5-1) but in every other game we’ve made progress but we just haven’t got the rewards we deserved. Hopefully these positive performances will give the players confidence, and once we get that first win, then hopefully we can get more.”
Caldwell’s opposite number Mckinnon added: “I’m delighted to have fought back and got a point. That could turn out to be a very important point at the end of the season. We’ve got a lot of injuries, including our top two strikers who’ve been playing every week. I’ve told the boys that we’ve got to play in a certain way right now, grinding out results to get us off the bottom. The boys worked their socks off today because Partick are a good side and they were at full strength today.
“The players have bought in to what we’ve been telling them and hopefully they can keep playing like that until January. Maybe we can improve the team then.”
It took well over 20 minutes yesterday for either side to muster an attempt on goal. Even then, Blair Spittal’s long-range effort barely troubled home keeper Leo Fasan.
By their own moderate standards, Falkirk improved marginally as half-time approached. Ruben Sammut blazed over the bar, then Tom
Robson’s left-foot drive was saved by Jags goalie Cammy Bell.
The second half looked to follow the same underwhelming pattern until the game suddenly caught fire with two goals within two minutes shortly before the hour mark. Craig Slater put Thistle ahead with a low drive from the edge of the penalty area, but the visitors then committed the cardinal sin of losing concentration and allowing Falkirk to equalise. It was no ordinary goal either as Joe Mckee capitalised on slack marking to head home from close range and become the first home player to score a league goal at Falkirk Stadium this season. The only other home “goal” came about when Ross County’s Don Cowie deflected the ball into his own net.
Partick looked the likelier side to score again, but Spittal’s shot was saved by Fasan who then kept out Kris Doolan’s header with just eight minutes left.