PARTICK THISTLE manager Alan Archibald has called upon the SPFL to make an early decision over whether tonight’s game at Ross County goes ahead, with Storm Barbara set to hit the country.
The Jags boss is concerned that the club’s supporters might be given news of a call-off having already set off on the long journey north, and that their safety may even be compromised.
While he would rather have the game go ahead, he says the inconvenience to fans as well as their wellbeing must be the issues that take paramount importance.
“I don’t think there will be a problem with the pitch, the issue is with the travel conditions,” Archibald said.
“It is horrific playing in high winds, it makes it a non-spectacle. You don’t want a scenario where we go up there and get the game started only for it to be called off.
“That’s the dilemma. If you ask any player then they’ll tell you the wind is the worst thing, especially for goalkeepers, it can become an absolute nightmare.”
Meanwhile, Scott Fox has said a tactical rethink is fuelling Ross County’s recovery – making life a little bit more hectic for him.
The former Celtic and Partick Thistle goalkeeper is now a more heavily used outlet for defenders with the Dingwall team placing greater emphasis on possession and building patiently from the back.
Six games unbeaten following victory over Aberdeen, County were stuck in a rut not so long ago, without a victory in 10 matches through to mid-November’s 4-2 triumph in Perth.
Fox believes teams had learned how to nullify the Staggies’ attacking gameplan but are now finding them a more sophisticated and less predictable proposition.
Ahead of tonight’s Dingwall re-union with his old team, Fox admitted: “We did a lot of work on the training pitch with shape and with the way we’re going to play now.
“We’ve changed our basic approach from last year. It’s worked, and teams have struggled to cope with us. Long may it continue and hopefully we can do it again on Friday night.
“We’re doing more to keep the ball from the back. Teams used to sit off us and we used to kick the ball long into them, but now, when it suits us, we play from the back and move it about a wee bit more.
“As goalkeeper, it means I get more touches of the ball, but Scott Thomson, our goalkeeping coach, has worked hard on me and the gaffer has put more of the team’s training basis into it as well.
“I’m enjoying the way we’re playing, and it’s good to watch”
Sixth-place County sit five points above Partick Thistle, the current bottom team in the Premiership, lending tonight’s festive clash great significance.
Achieving their first back-to-back wins since August would lift County eight points clear of the automatic relegation slot and further embed them in the top six. Losing, would drag them right back into the mire ahead of an away tussle with Celtic next midweek.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here