ALAN ARCHIBALD expects the battle to beat the drop to go down to the wire after seeing his Partick Thistle side fall to 10th in the table on Saturday.

The Jags drew 1-1 with bottom-six rivals Ross County at the Global Energy Stadium as Richard Brittain cancelled out Kallum Higginbotham's early strike for the visitors.

With St Mirren ending their barren run with victory over Kilmarnock at the weekend, there are now four teams separated by just one point in the SPFL Premiership standings as the top flight split draws nearer.

Thistle are not back in action until Hibs visit Firhill on March 15, and Archibald is confident his side are on the right track.

The Jags boss said: "This battle is going to go down to the wire, but I certainly believe we have enough about us to come out of it in a positive way.

"There were a lot of positives to take with regard to shape and the way our defence kept a good side in check for most of the match.

"Having said that, this is going to come down to how we play between now and the end of the season and I am very confident that we are heading in a good direction.

"We now just have to focus on the game against Hibs coming up in a fortnight.

"I am not sure if the break is coming at a good time or not, I think I would rather the game was next week as our form is good.

"But we will regroup, refocus and come out fighting at Firhill on the 15th."

After ending their Firhill hoodoo last month, Thistle made the trip up the A9 in good spirits and aiming to record back-to-back wins for the first time this term.

It was to prove a low-key clash with Derek Adams' side as the relegation rivals cancelled each other out, but there were reasons to be cheerful for boss Archibald as Thistle claimed a point.

"I think it was a point gained," he told ptfc.co.uk

"I really don't think it was a very good match from either side's perspective.

"Pitch conditions were actually not that great although it looked good and that impacted on both sides.

"We did not play the kind of football that we can and it made for a very difficult game and we will not look back upon it with too much satisfaction from a skill perspective.

"There were a lot of positives for me. None more so than the shape and the discipline where, despite the difficult conditions, we certainly controlled possession and made sure that the home team rarely threatened our goal.

"Especially in the second half we held the ball well, kept our shape and defensively we were very sound.

"So, while I was disappointed with some of the passing, there was plenty of other aspects that were good and we come away very much with a decent point."