Early form has matched the teams closely. Both have two wins and a draw to their credit with Thistle recording home success against Inverness and Ross County to add to the point earned against Dundee United. Their hopes of progress were severely dented last week when a poor defensive performance led to a 3-0 defeat at Rugby Park.
A repeat of last season's 5-1 will do nicely!
There are a couple of former Motherwell players in the current Partick Thistle side and they have had good reviews in the early season games. Higginbotham has two goals to his credit and a growing reputation for his long range strikes. He failed to complete last Saturday’s game and was substituted at the break because of a knee injury. Lawless, now 23, came through the Motherwell youth system and is now a fixture in the Thistle team. He scored in Thistle’s win over Inverness.
After Motherwell’s win in Dingwall and draw against Celtic the Fir Park faithful had reason to hope that an upturn in fortune might arrive. That hope was cruelly crushed last week when we crumbled to a humiliating 4-0 defeat against Hamilton. This week will have seen much soul searching in Stuart McCall’s squad as they attempt to regain some of the inspiration that produced such good form in recent years.
Seven changes failed to provide any joy for the last outing and it’s likely that we’ll return to a more familiar line up this week. Our injury problems remain with Lasley (hamstring), Vigurs (groin) and O’Brien (knee) the latest to join the queue on the treatment table. One glimmer of optimism was the return of Hammell to the bench. Whether he’ll appear at Firhill remains to be seen.
There has been little team talk from Fir Park so far this week but we know that the best talking is done on the pitch. An away point is rarely a bad result and we’ll probably be content with a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Have your say on the messageboard.