Ian McCall and Alan Archibald are the preferred choice of the Partick Thistle board to get the Firhill side out of their current nightmare but judging by Saturday afternoon’s display it will take some significant sorcery if they are to break the current bad spell that hangs over the club.
Saturday afternoon was in keeping with the curse that has plagued Thistle since their demotion from the top flight.
Gary Caldwell has gone but the lack of belief and the fragile vulnerability of Thistle hung heavy in the air as they limply toiled against a Dunfermline side who were made to look like league leaders rather than Thistle’s fellow strugglers.
Stevie Crawford’s side left Glasgow with their first three league points of the season – snapping their own ruinous run that had stretched all the way back to March without a league win – but if McCall got the chance to catch up on the highlights the ease with which Thistle gifted the points would cause some consternation.
Thistle’s next port of call might strike a little fear into a side already beset with a lack of self-belief.
Neil Lennon’s Celtic host the Firhill side on Wednesday evening on League Cup duty with goalkeeper Scott Fox adamant that Thistle might get find a spark to kickstart their season in the East End.
If the evidence suggests otherwise, Thistle might at least find some respite in the fact few will expect anything other than a straightforward night for the current holders of the Cup.
“It might just be a shock result that gets us going again,” said Fox who was a product of the Celtic academy.
“We’re going to Parkhead now but anything can happen in football. We just need to stick together as a team.
“If we can produce a good performance then that will be good for our confidence.”
The Firhill side have taken just two league points this term and despite a fairly positive start to Saturday’s game, the minute that Kevin Nisbet opened the scoring for the visitors there was a meek acceptance from Thistle regarding their fate.
That further goals followed from Ryan Dow and Kyle Turner wasn’t a surprise and indeed Stevie Crawford’s side could well have won the game by a stronger margin.
“The manager leaving is no excuse, our performance was unacceptable,” said Fox. “It was far too easy for Dunfermline. We can all hide behind that but we all know as individuals it wasn’t good enough.
“The fans are great when they are with you but they do voice their opinions and they have a right to do so. After the start to the season we’ve had, we’ve not given them anything to shout about. We owe them and we know that if we can get them back onside then we can push up the table.
“I think teams like to play against us so we need to change that. We want to make sure teams don’t fancy playing against us.”
If there was misery and recrimination at Firhill, the mood was far more celebratory in the visiting changing room.
Nisbet, who started the win off and put in a fairly industrious performance, was thrilled to get one over the team who released him in 2018.
“I was definitely extra motivated because they were the team that let me go,” said the striker. “If was my first time back at Firhill so to get a 3-0 win was brilliant.
“I still know a few of the Thistle lads. I talk to Stuart Bannigan and James Penrice and obviously it’s been a terrible what’s happened to Thistle.
“Over the past year they’ve just gone down and down and hopefully they’ll come back again soon.
“But I always felt I could have cut it at Thistle. I just had to play games and I got with Raith last season when I barely missed a game. Now I’m at Dunfermline and I’m doing the same.”
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