A last gasp defeat is hard enough to stomach. Getting a footballer to then pose with a pizza in the immediate aftermath of a crushing defeat as part of an awkwardly timed PR stunt could bring on a violent feeling of nausea.
“He’s taken some stick but to be fair, it was a difficult time to take a picture like that given the way the game ended,” said Niall Keown of the well-circulated picture of his team-mate Conor Sammon holding a pizza but wearing the face of man who'd been asked to eat a woodlouse. “If we win on Saturday, I’m hoping they kit out the full team with pizza.”
The sobering 2-1 defeat to Dundee last weekend gave Thistle plenty of food for thought and Keown is seeking redemption today as the Maryhill men go head-to-head with Hamilton in a vital game at the foot of the Ladbrokes Premiership. The 22-year-old is also eyeing something of a silver lining with his boyhood favourites Arsenal taking on Man City in the Caraboa Cup Final tomorrow.
“The Hamilton game comes first for me but I will enjoy watching the game on Sunday if we have three points,” said the son of decorated Arsenal stalwart Arsenal. “If Arsenal win, it would end up being a good weekend for us all.”
With both Thistle and Hamilton entangled in the relegation web, there is plenty at stake today. A match with Ross County is also looming on the horizon for the Jags and Keown is looking for the men in red and yellow to stand up and be counted.
“Every game between now and the end of the season is a big game,” he said. Everyone always talks about must-win games and they all will be now.
“But if you let that consume you and let those pressures affect you then it won’t work out. There is obviously massive importance when you play the teams around you but we have done well in these games before. We just need to make sure we improve on the mistakes we have made in the past.
“We had a spell of playing games like this one just before the break and we picked up a few important wins, especially at home. It’s about staying level-headed and sticking together as a group because it will be a tough month, but an important month in terms of the league table.
“It was a strange feeling after the Dundee defeat because we dominated so much of the game. We played them earlier in the season and won 2-1. We didn’t deserve to win then and they did the reverse to us this time. In the first half, it felt like we played some of our best football. We created quite a few good opportunities. Later in the second half, they piled a lot of men forward and probably got a bit fortunate. I think the first goal was probably a scuffed shot and the second one was like a pinball machine around the box that ended up going in. It often takes a few days to get over those kind of things. But everyone seems to be fine in training and we are ready to go again.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here