Partick Thistle midfielder Stuart Bannigan will not require surgery to the serious knee injury that prematurely ended his season.

His manager Alan Archibald revealed yesterday that surgeons had finally been able to get to the root of his injury, and determine how long he will be sidelined.

The Jags boss also revealed that the club had made an offer to the player to remain at Firhill should he have required surgery, and that they will now sit down with him again.

He added the caveat though that he will require an answer on any renewed offer put to Bannigan sooner rather than later.

“Stuart met the surgeon the other day and doesn’t need surgery, which is fantastic news for him,” Archibald said.

“He’s got severe bone bruising, so with the time he’s already been out he’s maybe only got another month to six weeks out.

“Anyone who has had a knee injury like that would have been worried for him. I’ve been there and I didn’t want that for him. I’m delighted he doesn’t have to go under the knife.

“The rehab will be tough, there’s no doubt, but it gives him a bit of clarity.

“We did our bit and told him we’d be there for him regardless of what happened. I think he knows he’s at a club where he’ll be looked after.

“He made it public that he was possibly going to leave, but we made him aware that he was wanted here regardless of his injury so he had that support network.

“We put something to him, thinking he was going to need surgery. We’ll talk to him again.

“He’ll digest the news and see how he feels over the next couple of weeks. We can’t wait forever for him. He’s a key player in how we want to play. If he’s not going to be here we’ll have to move on. “We’ll give him a week or two to get his head around it. He knows how much we think of him.

“It’s a decision for another manager, whether they want to take someone with a niggling injury on.

“It gives us a far better chance of keeping him but we only want to keep him if he wants to stay.”

Archibald is desperate for a victory over Inverness at Firhill on Saturday as he looks to mathematically secure his side’s top-flight status.

Only when he knows for sure that Thistle will remain a Premiership club, will he look to press on with plans to keep others at the club or open talks with signing targets.

“We’ll start talks with the players when we know we’re going to be in this league,” he said.

“There’s a nine point gap just now but that can change. We need to make sure we’re guaranteed and we’ll move on.

“There are plans in place but we can’t move on that yet. You want to get on with that as soon as possible.

“We also want to do it off our own back. You want a victory in front of our own fans and to be able to enjoy the last couple of weeks of training.”

Another reason that Archibald wants to discount the possibility of relegation as quickly as possible is to perhaps open the door to some young players gaining valuable first-team experience.

“If the young players deserve it then they will get a run,” he said.

“I’m not going to throw someone on for the sake of it. I think we had six of them on the bench last week. They have to earn the right to be involved. A few of them aren’t too far away.

“Kevin Nisbet’s knocking on the door. He came on last week and he’ll have a part to play. He’s done really well with the development squad.”