douglas clark

I would hope that the board would support Alan Archibald through a Cup winning season and beyond, or a relegation season and beyond. The man is as much a hero to me as Chris Doolan. It is also pretty obvious that he has added to his coaching skills to become a bit of a strategist too. Whilst he hasn't even yet had an injury free pool of players to select from he has adjusted our line-up to compensate, and when that hasn't worked a 100%, hasn't shirked swapping things around. As he did twice against Hamilton. It is a tad incredible that we still have him. Personally, I would like to see him here until he does something extraordinary, like winning a Scottish Cup or summat.

It seems to me that the absolutely major question, the one that would win us games, championships and probably the European Cup is why the heck do we almost invariably play the first half towards the North Stand and the next away? It has been a bugbear of mine ever since I realized it was happening. This Jags supporter want's to know!

Though I agree this is not beyond us.

I would quite like some neutral, say a rugby fan, to test the temperature of the balls before they are extracted. Paranoid, Moi?

So, now we have to defeat the minor issue of Aberdeen at home, for them. Shouldn't be a problem. Fortunately Hampden Park is a mere 30 minute walk for me, and we will beat Rangers in the semi-final and then Celtic in the final. How easy do the authorities want to make it for us? Onwards and upwards!

Can just anybody, i.e. me, just turn up or what?

What they have up now is not what I recall our beloved BBC telling us just an hour or so ago. Firstly they had Rangers second in the SPL and IIRC it was a resignation. Doesn't sound so clear cut now!

Interesting clip. Seems he maybe didn't resign, perhaps he was pushed? BREAKING: Sky sources: Mark Warburton denies resigning as manager of Rangers. Anyway, Rangers are third, not second in the SPL.

Third Lanark, I think Ryan puts an enormous amount of effort into his game. His work rate is phenomenal. The St Johnstone game saw him fall into the trap that they set. Let him attack and then surround him with three players. There is really no pass, nor shot, on for him then. Perhaps passing the ball, hopefully to another Thistle player, before he gets closed down? Just a thought. Seemed to me that Barton had some amazing passes to wide players. And, otherwise didn't do a lot wrong. Few mistakes, but everyone made them. It was that sort of night. Looking forward, I would like to see Mustapha getting some game time, if it will not set back his recovery. I would also like, perhaps because I bought three Doolan 100 scarves, that we don't take him off. He had a couple of good attempts in the first half, and taking him off was one of Archie's odder decisions. Perhaps he see's things in training that we don't see, but frankly, the substitutions were inexplicable to me. Just to add, And I am firmly in the 'Alan Archibald' camp. Think a lot of us North Standers are. Also, I quite like Sean Welsh.

The second half experience, if I can call it that, clouded a pretty good first half. Could we see the experiment of taking off our two most likely to score / create players and replacing them with our two least likely to score / create players as something that does'n't work? Perhaps they were both severely injured but they both seemed to walk off the pitch without obvious pain. ( I am reaching here.) The complete inability to cross, in the second half, is embarrassing. And when we do cross, the ball is not driven, it is looped into the danger zone. Which means that the striker has to find the power, for none has been delivered to them. Penrice is the only player I have seen recently in a Thistle Shirt that appeared to be able to cross before their first defender intercepted the cross and also seemed to me to drive the ball in accurately and with pace. Perhaps he has other flaws, but the ability to do that seemed to me to be beyond our team as the second half progressed. On that front, at least, we just got worse and worse. Your mileage may vary.

Hopefully one of Alan's original targets. In any case, welcome!

Top six. Bloody hell!

What Lindau said, Just now Liam is much better than he was before. I think that comes with experience. Given the fact he is one of our top goal scorers as well as a centre back who now knows what he is doing, he is an incredibly useful asset to us. I, for one, will be sad to see him go. Though the 5 million price tag may make that a tad more bearable ;-) Just escalating.....

Absolutely. And with a fit Liam Lindsay, we are a done deal. What with Muzzy looking pretty fit against, admittedly, Formartine, our defence looks a lot better especially since Thomas also came back from injury. The future suddenly looks a lot brighter, Top six? Cup run? Nah! ;-)

I see he has been interviewed in The National: http://www.thenational.scot/sport/15038726.Football__Danny_Devine___s_inspiration_is_his_cup_win_with_Inverness__and_he_hopes_to_repeat_it_with_Partick_Thistle/ Good to read.

Will Lindsay be fit to play?

I think Mustapha Dumbuya has been one of the most exciting players I have seen in the red and yellow recently. I want him back as soon as he is fit to play again. Brilliant athleticism and speed over the ground. Especially the first few meters.. But not before he has healed.

So, given the silence, Lindsay not for Leeds?

jags on tour, You are talking chump change there. The man is worth at least a few million quid, and, unless you were trying to be amusing, I'd have thought you were just playing the naivety card. Would you agree that keeping him would be a better option?

Given the amount of money sloshing about down south, I am a tad astonished that folk here have a starting point around the half million. jags on tour must be a buyer! Given their wealth, I would think that the starting figure should be around two or three million quid. Perhaps the fact that he also scores goals should add a bit to his worth? Personally, I'd prefer it if the lad played out his entire career with us. Perhaps we could get Mr Doolan to talk to him?

It is a bit like Alan Archibald said, I don't think the conditions helped us much. Our normally ground based passing game deserted us. Frankly, I didn't realise just how atrocious the conditions were until I left the stadium. It explains why we played an unnnormal, for us game of headers.Which we are, frankly, not very good at. Our skill players were defeated by the weather, I think. I have dried out now, thanks for asking :-)

Absolutely superb goalkeeper, We need to keep him! As Lindau said, we need to see him signed up on a longer term contract.

lady-isobel-barnett, Sadly, so will I. Certain organs were clenched during the last five minutes.

Willjag, Apologies, just reply to me here. I am willing, and arguably able, to take the administrative load off of your shoulders. I was asked to become a moderator on Space.com, which I refused. Largely because I thought it would be difficult to judge between the sincere supporters of Ayn Rand and the nutters. For information there is no such thing as a sincere supporter of Ayn Rand, They are all nutters. So I declined the role. Assuming that the incidence of Partick Thistle supporters that really care for extreme right wing US politics, beyond them being bat shit crazy, I'd be happy to help. I kind of know what an 'ad hominem' actually is, and would stamp on it. You could look at this as a job application, or as me declining a job opportunity.

Never thought about going to this fixture, But agree with what Tom Hosie had to say. It is verging on ridiculous that fans would need to travel first, only to be told that a game is off. How does that make an iota of commercial sense?