Match Preview Livingston v Partick Thistle
Livingston v Partick Thistle
Alba Challenge Cup
Sunday 7th September 2008
Kick – off 3pm
Adults £12
Concessions £6
Parking £5
The Jags head towards the Lions Den on Sunday for a Alba Challenge cup tie against top of the league Livingston. A win here will put the Jags in the Semi-Final, the furthest they have been in this cup. Indeed, we could say Thistle are visiting the Dragons Den instead of the Lions Den, as you would think they would have needed the cash of Theo Paphitis and Duncan Bannatyne put together to pay for the quality signings that Livingston have made this season.
Ian McCall will be hoping for an improved performance than that at the Ross County game where our excellent recent form seemed to desert us for some of the game. John Roberson is definitely out due to his red card and with Tuffey and Lennon called up for international duty there will be some changes to the Thistle line up. It is believed that Stephen McKeown, Liam Buchanan and Alan Archibald are still ruled out due to injury and there is also some concern over the availability of Simon Donnelly. With no new additions during the transfer window there will be some pressure on the existing squad. There were however some good performances midweek in a training match with Morton so perhaps some less familiar faces may come into contention for inclusion in the squad.
Whatever our line-up the Jags will face a very difficult task in overcoming a Livingston side which has recently turned down approaches from SPL clubs and English clubs to hold on to key players Leigh Griffiths, Murray Davidson and James Mc Pake in their determination to gain promotion to the SPL. This is a quality side: some of the players who have put their name to paper for “Livi” this season are Rocco Quinn, Calum Elliot, Chris Innes, Antony McParland and couple of Italians brought over by the new Italian manager Roberto Landi. This could turn out to be a very entertaining match.
Although both clubs are playing well presently they are still not rated highly in terms of winning the league by the bookies who have Livingston on 7/1 with Thistle behind them on 9/1. Favourites are Dundee and QoS on 7/4 and 10/3 respectively .
Referee David Somers