Partick Thistle kept their hopes of a top-six finish alive with a battling win over bottom club Dundee United at Firhill.

Thistle survived a first-half onslaught from the visitors to regroup in the second period, and Kris Doolan got the all-important strike with a little under 20 minutes remaining to seal a vital three points.

Alan Archibald made two changes to his side from the one that faced Kilmarnock on Saturday, with Gary Fraser coming in for Ryan Edwards and Doolan replacing Mathias Pogba in attack.

He soon had to make another. There was controversy as Fraser went down injured after a 50/50 and remained on the turf. United played on and almost opened the scoring as Guy Demel fed the ball up the line to Billy McKay, who in turn fed the ball to Henri Anier inside the area. Tomas Cerny managed to block his effort with his legs though to keep the score level.

Fraser had to go off, being replaced by Mathias Pogba as Alan Archibald went for two up top.

Pogba had a glorious chance to play in Stevie Lawless moments after coming on as Callum Morris got himself in a fankle, but he failed to spot the midfielder’s run and the opportunity was lost.

Cerny then had to dash from his goal to head clear from Anier before he denied Dow at his near post as United increased the pressure.

The same player then missed a glorious chance for the visitors as Osman slipped in midfield to allow McKay to race into the area before teeing it up for Dow, who could only fire over from ten yards.

Thistle were all over the place at this stage, but they broke out down the left as Lawless fed Callum Booth, and Eiji Kawashima had to look lively to divert his driven cross away from the heads of the waiting Pogba and David Amoo.

A mix-up at the back from the home side then almost gave United the lead, as Dan Seaborne headed the ball away from Cerny into the path of McKay, but the forward could only hook the ball over the unguarded net.

It took an outstanding save to deny the visitors soon after though, as a nice move saw the ball fed from Demel on the right over to John Rankin inside the area on the left. He steadied himself before unleashing a rocket that Cerny did brilliantly to get a hand up to and tip over the bar.

United had the ball in the net just before half-time as Rankin’s cross was tapped home by McKay, but the assistant referee had flagged for offside as Rankin received the ball from Dow.

Thistle almost scored right away at the other end, as Kawashima flapped at a cross to present the ball to Amoo, but his shot was blocked by a great last-ditch block by Paul Dixon.

Thistle were dealt another blow as Freddie Frans limped off at the start of the second half to be replaced by Mustapha Dumbuya.

The home side were more involved after the re-start though, and Booth’s volley after Dumbuya’s cross was cleared to the edge of the box had Kawashima worried before just clearing the junction of post and bar.

United weren’t getting nearly as much time on the ball now, and Thistle made them pay for their profligacy in the first half by hitting the front after 71 minutes.

A burst down the right from Dumbuya ended with him feeding a lovely low cut-back into the area, where a cute dummy by Amoo allowed the arriving Doolan to slam the ball home low to the keeper’s right from the edge of the area for his ninth of the season.

Sean Welsh almost sealed the win late on with a mazy run that ended with him forcing a save from Kawashima, and Amoo fired just wide after a lung-bursting run of his own.

United sub Scott Fraser was booked for diving in the box late on, but Thistle had done enough to travel to Dingwall on Saturday with renewed hope of making the top half of the table.

PARTICK THISTLE: Cerny; Booth, Seaborne, Frans (Dumbuya, 48’), Booth; Osman, Welsh; Amoo, Fraser (Pogba, 12’), Lawless; Doolan (Edwards, 80’).

Scorers: Kris Doolan (71’)

Booked: Frans (2’)

DUNDEE UNITED: Kawashima; Knoyle, Morris, Gunning, Dixon (Ofere, 79’); Paton; Demel (Spittal, 66’), Dow (Fraser, 79’), Rankin; Anier; McKay.

Booked: (Fraser, 91’)

Man of the match: Callum Booth (Partick Thistle)

Referee: Andrew Dallas

Attendance: 4533