ALAN ARCHIBALD has thanked the Partick Thistle board for their unwavering support this season.

It has been a frustrating campaign for the Jags as a number of promising positions haven't been turned into points and they have been unable to haul themselves away from the SPFL Premiership play-off place.

The dramatic 4-3 loss to Motherwell last weekend was the latest hard knock Thistle have had to suffer and they remain 11th in the standings ahead of Saturday's clash with Aberdeen at Firhill.

And boss Archibald is grateful for the support chairman David Beattie and his board have given him through a poor run of results.

He said: "The board have been great, from the start of the season they have been fantastic.

"Even now, even although the window is shut, they want to help with anything the players need or I need. They have been tremendous. They have not panicked.

"They gave me a remit at the start of the season to stay in this league and play good football.

"We are still in the league and we are playing good football, some of the stuff last week was very, very good.

"Most of the teams this year have stuck by their managers.

"There was a lot of pressure on Danny (Lennon) at the start of the season and the board showed a bit of stability. I think it helps, all clubs need stability.

"It is something I don't worry about. What will be will be.

"We are a young squad and a young group, we know that.

"We knew we were going to have tough times, it was never going to be easy.

"I expected to win a lot more games than we have to be honest and we still have standards. The board's support has been great."

It is not just the Jags board who have backed Archibald through Thistle's troubled spell, with the Firhill crowd staying loyal to the man who took their club back to the top flight.

And the 36-year-old admits the support of those close to him has helped ease the pain of a barren run of form that has seen his side win just one of their last 17 games.

He said: "Family and friends are good, kids are brilliant.

"They are the same, they are fans like everyone else.

"Your family picks you up, that is what they are there for. It is good to have that support away from football.

"They tell you 'it's a big game on Saturday dad, you need to win'.

"They are first to tell you, there is no hiding place from them."

The fight to avoid the play-off position is likely to go right down to the wire this term.

But Archibald has not set his side a points target to see off their four Premiership relegation rivals.

He said: "It is something I have not done. I know the games we will need to take something from.

"The way things are going, it looks like it will come down to the split.

"That is going to be vital, especially the games against the teams around about us.

"St Mirren play Ross County this weekend so something has got to give there and that is why it is vital we take advantage.

"That was the sorest thing coming away from last week's game. Someone said results had gone for us but we didn't take advantage of it and that was hard to take."