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Partick Thistle vs Ross County - 13/08/14


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An unispiring home fixture kicks off our 2014/15 season. Preseason has been low key at best and we find ourselves facing a County side who have apparently greatly strengthened their squad.

Thistle have two confirmed signings to date but may have one or two new faces in for Wednesday.

Hard to predict our line-up as Archie has rotated the squad over the last few weeks. More questions than answers at the moment. Fox or Gallacher? Balatoni and Muirhead? SOD or McMillan? McMillan or Keenan? Ossie and Stevenson will start but will Stevenson play behind Doolan or will they get in each other's space?

Not sure if we'll even go 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3/ 4-3-2-1?

I guess we'll find out soon enough.

C'mon the Jags!

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Expecting a very tough game against County, they've made alot of new signings and we haven't beat them at Firhill in ages as far as I remember. It will be interesting to see how they get on today against ST J. hopefully we can get a win on the first day but I'm expecting a draw. I think Archie may play Bannigan and Fraser infront of the defence then osman infront of them with higgy and stevenson either side, that is probably our stongest midfield. then we have fox, keenan,lawless,elliott,wilson,duggan on the bench.

I'd expect us to line up 4-2-3-1.

Gallacher

Mcmillan

Balatoni

Muirhead

O Donnell

Bannigan

Fraser

Higgy

Osman

Stevenson

Doolan.

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I think we'll go with something along the lines of:

Fox

McMillan

Balatoni

Muirhead

Bannigan

Fraser

Osman

Elliott

Stevenson

Higgy

Doolan

Rightly or wrongly, I've got a feeling that Archie will start with fox as our first choice keeper this season again. Gallacher did very well when he came in last season after fox's dip in form, and I'm sure most thistle fans would agree that seeing gallacher in the line up fills you with a lot more confidence than seeing fox in it. Fox did start the season well last year though, and if he can regain that form then I suppose I'm ok with it.

The defence is the obvious weak point in the team, and I'd fully expect to see some signings in that area of the team, but whether we'll have them in time for this game is another matter. Osman should provide some good cover for them though, and hopefully county don't take advantage. The attack on paper at least does look good however, so we should be able to create some chances, whether we are like last season and are unable to take them of not will be obviously crucial to us this season.

2-1 thistle. Stevenson and doolan. Kiss for county.

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My predicted line up would be

Gallagher

O'Donnell

Muirhead

Balatoni

McMillan

Fraser

Osman

Bannigan

Higginbotham

Doolan

Stevenson

Not confident for this one at all I must say. Think our first 11 is strong middle to front but I am very worried about the defence and think County could really take advantage of that

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I've kinda moved myself to the assumption we probably won't sign anyone until August 31st now, if we do then it's a bonus. That in mind, I'd be very happy with 4 points from the first 3 games- our first XI isn't bad apart from the defence so it is achievable, our record vs County at Firhill in recent years is pretty grim though.

I think Bannigan at LB would be preferable to McMillan there in the out of position stakes but I suspect Archie would see the opposite, particularly with Banzo having missed a fair chunk of pre-season, I can't see him starting. Which only really leaves two places up for grabs- Fox / Gallacher in goals and Elliott / Lawless on the wing- I think we'll see the first option in each case.

So

Fox

O'Donnell-Muirhead-Balatoni-McMillan

Fraser-Osman

Elliott- Stevenson-Higginbotham

Doolan

subs: Gallacher, Craigen, Bannigan, Lawless + 3 assorted weans, waifs, and strays.

My pre-season optimism has been shoed in the head so repeatedly over the last month or so that the most optimistic I can be is to predict a 1-1 draw.

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Our starting eleven is decent - defence isn't as bad as people say either, McMillan and Balatoni are fine at this level and Muirhead is hardly shit. We should be signing a starter at left-back and centre-back - and I'd love the left-back to come in before this one - but if we were to start Muirhead and Balatoni in this match, I wouldn't be too worried.

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Still a bit nervous how we will fare this season so hoping for a positive start. Can't decide if i'd rather have Elliott or Lawless starting as both are pretty inconsistent and uninspiring in equal measure. More a "just don't lose" kind of game for me.

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Would love three points on Wednesday it would really get the ball rolling after our home travails last season. I'll take Thistle by a goal!

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Will be delighted with three points, a Thistle defence that pays attention to the task in hand and I'll marvel at how the hands of the entire County back line go up in unison every time a ball goes over their heads. ;)^_^

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