If points were awarded for good performances in the middle third of the pitch, then Partick Thistle would surely be flying high in the table.

Unfortunately for Alan Archibald’s men, they are currently failing to do the basics in the areas of the field that really matter, despite being accomplished in their general play.

Again at Ibrox on Saturday, defensive slips at one end allied to wastefulness at the other resulted in a two-nil loss, and Thistle go into the international break bottom of the standings.

For midfielder Ryan Edwards, who put in an energy-sapping shift as he harassed and harried his opponents in the middle of the park, that has to change quickly.

The Australian pointed to two key moments in particular that he felt turned the game against them, with Danny Devine presenting the ball to Rangers for their second goal and Chris Erskine just failing to convert when clean through.

Without blaming either teammate for the loss, he feels that the whole side have to sharpen up in these key areas if they are to turn their fortunes around.

“We fought to the end,” Edwards said. “Our first half was very good and in the second half Rangers showed they are a really good team and killed the game off really well, and we couldn’t get many chances.

“In saying that, we had a few chances, and if Chris Erskine scores his then we’re right back into the game.

“That’s something we spoke about during the week, getting over that first 10 or 15 minutes when they come out firing and the fans are making that loud atmosphere that they have.

“We did that and I think you could hear it, and we won the ball with our high pressing a number of times in good areas to try and hurt them, and unfortunately today we couldn’t, but on another day maybe we could. The game-plan worked.

“Chris has a massive chance and he was very unfortunate that it didn’t go in. The keeper has made a great save too I think, and that’s a turning point.

“Two-nil is a dangerous score against anyone and if we had gone two-one we could have got the fans starting to turn again too.

“Even saying that, if we stop the sloppy second goal and that doesn’t happen then we go 1-1 and we’ve got massive momentum to go and get something from the game.

“Danny put his hand up straight away and apologised, but we’re a team and we just need to get his head up and get on with it.

“There was still plenty of minutes left in the game to get something from it, even at two-nil, but we need to stop the sloppy goals going in.”

Edwards held his hands up to snatching at a great chance of his own early in the game, when the ball fell to him inside the Rangers area.

He said: “The keeper has read me, the goal was open at that side but I didn’t get enough power into the header.

“I could have let the ball come down and hit it on the volley as well, I’ll probably look back on it and think it is a really good chance, especially so early in the game.”

Thistle will now lick their wounds again before preparing for a home game with Hamilton Academical next Saturday that now takes on huge significance.

Edwards says that there is no lack of confidence in the Jags squad that they will dig their way out of their current slump.

“The belief is there that we will rise up the table, 100%,” he said.

“The performances so far show that we deserve to be further up the table.

“We’ve got good games coming up though against teams around about us where we need to pick up points. It’s all still positive and the team environment is still really good at the moment.”