As someone who has worked under Alan Archibald for the duration of his tenure at Partick Thistle, Kris Doolan knows only too well the qualities that his manager brings to the club.

That is why he was hugely relieved when an approach from Shrewsbury Town for his boss’s services fell flat this week, and that Archibald will be in the dugout for today’s visit of Ross County to Firhill.

Equally, Doolan is far from surprised that other clubs have been taking note of what Archibald has achieved at Thistle. He is just hoping he is here long enough to see his aim of a top six finish come to fruition.

“He's done a good job here,” Doolan said.

“If he does well teams will come looking for him and that is part and parcel of football we know that.

“That is down to Shrewsbury and the club or whoever else came looking for him. We want him to stay with Partick Thistle.

“It would be a massive blow if he left as he is a big figure around the place and we want to hold on to him.

“He is a really nice guy and he is very approachable and he knows football inside out. He spends a lot of time and puts in a lot of hard work on and off the field.

“He is building something here and that is why we are all here. The players are signing longer contracts and are wanting to stay beyond their current deal and that shows you the direction the club is heading in.

“The club is in a good place and the stability of the club on and off the pitch has been the main thing. Archie has had a massive part to play in that.

“It is great to hear the manager say that he has unfinished business here as that is the way he would definitely look at it. He knows what he wants to achieve.”

On a personal level, Doolan is going through something of a barren run by his own high standards, having failed to net in eleven games since scoring Thistle’s first goal of the season against Airdrie in the BetFred Cup.

His drought is not entirely of his own making though, with Doolan being asked to play in an unfamiliar position in behind the striker at times to accommodate Ade Azeez.

To the forward’s relief, the penny seems to have dropped with his manager that playing Doolan in such a position is not the way to extract the best from his talents.

He returned to the main striker’s position against Hamilton last weekend, and although he failed to find the net, he has targeted today’s match to finally break his league duck for the season.

“That would be nice,” he said.

“I am happy to be back in my own position as I played the first few games as a number 10. I am not a number 10 and the manager knows that it is not my position.

"Being a number 9 comes more naturally to me. I am just pleased to be back in that role.

“I have scored enough goals to know that dry runs happen. You have to keep getting in the areas and being in the mix. Being a number 10 it is harder to do that.

“I was looking over my shoulder at times and I was in the Chris Erskine role, and I am not Chris Erskine, so it was a relief to go back to playing as a centre-forward.”

A good omen for Doolan is that he has a long history of sticking the ball past his former teammate Scott Fox, who is likely to line up in goal for County today.

"I put plenty past Scott in training when he was here,” Doolan laughed.

“Scott is a really good goalie and he is a good friend of mine. It would be the ideal weekend to end my scoring drought and I would rub that one right into him!”