PARTICK THISTLE manager Ian McCall is glad that his team won’t be coming up against Celtic in every game, and he has told his players they won’t be judged on the 5-0 defeat at Celtic Park last night.
McCall’s first game back in charge of Thistle ended in a convincing defeat, but he took heart from the way his men competed during the first half especially, and pinpointed some key incidents that took the match away from the Jags.
He is hoping now to be able to put his mark on the side as they look to open up in the Championship and start climbing the table.
READ MORE: Ian McCall's arrival can be fresh start for me and Partick Thistle, says Stuart Bannigan
“It was great for me being back in the Thistle colours but I’m glad I won’t be playing Celtic every week,” McCall said.
“The scoreline didn’t flatter Celtic but there were a couple of key moments in the first half. We had a good chance at 1-0 and then – and I haven’t seen it again yet – Thomas O’Ware looked onside when he put the ball in the net for what would have been 2-1.
“But when you come to Celtic Park and a player like Olivier Ntcham tries a shot from 30 yards you’ve got to hope that it goes over the bar – and then his other goal goes in off the inside of the post. They had all sorts of players coming in with a point to prove tonight.
“The good thing for us is that we didn’t pick up any injuries and I told our players that there were no negative judgements against them. We competed well for an hour and they gave everything.
“It’s not how we want to play either and it’s not how we’ll play in the Championship, but we made some substitutions with Saturday at Inverness in mind. We have something to work with to get up that league, though.”
READ MORE: Colin Weir and Thistle For Ever launch Partick Thistle takeover bid
One of the biggest disappointments for McCall on the night was the concession of Tom Rogic’s goal for Celtic just moments after the restart, effectively killing the tie at 2-0.
He said: “Part of my half-time team talk was not to lose a cheap goal – they had a couple of half-chances in the first half and scored with a free header from a set play – but I knew Neil would’ve been getting in about them at the break and they started well, although it was poor from us when they scored straight away.
“Then Ntcham scores two absolute belters and you’re chasing the game and just hoping that no-one gets hurt.”
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