Manager Post Partick
Saturday, 1st Jul 201701/07/17: AJ- "We knew that it was going to be difficult against Patrick, they are a good team and have a lot of good players.
Allan Johnston always wants to win games, especially in pre season but he was not unduly upset with defeat in his squad`s first taste of competition:-
"We knew that it was going to be difficult against Patrick, they are a good team and have a lot of good players.
"I thought first half we competed really well when we have the majority of the first team boys starting. I thought we competed for long periods up until we lost the goal."
The opener came from the penalty spot after Lee Ashcroft handled the ball in his own box as a corner came in from the right.
"I don`t know why he had his hand away up there to catch the ball. He claimed that he was pushed. That is by the by now.
"Going into the last ten minutes, Patrick got confidence and started popping the ball about. Up until that point we had good chances, we forced their keeper into a couple of great saves and we should probably have scored.
"There were a lot of positives in the first half. Second half is was difficult because we had four trialists playing. We had younger one playing as well, it was going to be difficult and to be fair Partick probably had a couple of their more experienced players still on for 15-20 minutes of the second half.
"It was still good to see them score a couple of goals. Obviously we lost another penalty which is a bit weak and we cannot afford to keep giving away penalties like that. That happens and hopefully we just move on and keep on improving."
AJ felt that 45 minutes was enough game time for the season`s first game.
"I think all the boys came through it okay. Nat (Wedderburn) took a knock on his thigh but there were a lot of good performances."
He went on to explain the absence on the park of Sean Murdoch, Jason Talbot and Declan McManus:-
"Sean hurt his back during the week, he had a back spasm as went to save the ball. It is nothing serious but something that takes time. You cannot force it just takes time to get it right.
"Jason hurt his calf a tiny bit but that will not be long term, only a few days. Declan had a blocked challenge in training that opened up his knee a little bit but he should be back within a week."
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