Frustration game

Roger Graham • Published 9 Nov 2009 14:00

MORTON 0

PARTICK THISTLE 2

(Buchanan 53, Donnelly 56)

IN his first home match in full charge of the side, manager James Grady summed up the experience as being frustrating.

He said: "That was my very first word to the players - frustration. In the first 10 minutes was probably eachy-peachy. From then on in [to the interval] I thought we dominated.

"We showed the way we can play, getting the ball down and passing, getting it wide and getting balls into the box. It's the same old adage - goals change games and we didn't take our chances in the first half.

"We came out in the second half and created another chance very quickly, never took it, and the two goals we gave away were very cheap.

"It's just one ball down the side of a defender and two tap-ins for Thistle, so that's very disappointing. I can't keep saying we're trying to get our thoughts across about how we want to play - the bottom line is we need to win games.

"That's what I said to the players. It's all very well playing for a half and looking good. But Thistle didn't change their system. They brought on one player and I don't think he's a player who should have changed the game. But he was allowed to, and that's a disappointing thing for me."

Of the two trialists who played at full back, David Van Zanten and Alan Reid, Grady said: "They basically just played today. I'll be speaking to them shortly. Obviously I would love to take them in. It's up to the players as well, so I'll speak to them and see what's going to happen."

Asked if he would be attempting to bring in someone up front, the Ton boss said: "We've been trying all week to bring players in. These are the two we've managed to get in. If we could have had a couple more we would have done and one of them would have been a striker.

"Unfortunately we never managed to do that. As I said in the press leading up to the game, it's all right being our priority, but for other clubs it's not their priority."

Thistle manager Ian McCall commented: "There isn't one game we've won that we haven't deserved to win. I don't think we played like we can today; certainly not the first half.

"But having said that I thought we had the two best chances in the first half. I thought Liam's [Buchanan] and Sid's [Donnelly] were great chances.

"In the second half I thought Jamie Adams made a big difference, just in terms of getting about the pitch and winning the ball. It's great now to have players able to come off the bench.

"Liam had a wee knock and that's why he came off.

"My only disappointment in the second half is that with a bit more guile and composure we could have scored a couple more goals.

"But to come here and win is a great result."

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 09 Nov 09

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