Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald is looking to strengthen his side at both ends of the field during the January transfer window.

The Jags have enjoyed recent upturn in results, but Archibald still sees room for improvement in defence and attack as they look to mount a challenge for the top six in the second half of the season.

Targets have already been identified by the Firhill management team, and Archibald is hopeful that he can get some new faces in the door before too long.

“We’re trying, and we’ve got one or two players lined up as targets,” he said. “Whether we get them or not or who we end up with remains to be seen, but I’d like to get at least one or two in before the window closes.

“I’d like to strengthen at both ends of the pitch, we’re looking at defence and forward areas. Midfield-wise we’re covered, and we’ve got some good young players coming through as well like Andy McCarthy who made the bench against Kilmarnock.

“But I think we need to strengthen the defence and strikers.”

One man who has checked in at Firhill is former Hearts and St Mirren goalkeeper Mark Ridgers, who replaces Thorsten Stuckmann as understudy to regular number one Tomas Cerny.

“Mark knows the Scottish game, he knows the league and he has been about it for a while before his move abroad, so he’s a good fit at the right time,” Archibald said.

“Hopefully he can give good competition and cover for Tomas Cerny until Ryan Scully comes back as well and we’ll have three good goalkeepers then.

“Ryan is on schedule and we’re talking possibly late February for him.”

Despite his desire to strengthen his numbers, Archibald has allowed two of his promising young players - James Penrice and David Wilson – to leave the club on loan to East Fife and Stranraer respectively.

“I hope they can just get some game-time,” he said. “James was unlucky earlier in the season with the injuries we had to our full-backs, so we couldn’t get him out as early as we had hoped.

“For David, he’s obviously been frustrated as midfield has been a really strong area for us this season with Abdul Osman, Ryan Edwards and Sean Welsh being outstanding it’s been hard for him to get in there."

Archibald will take his players to La Manga next week for some warm-weather training, but he has warned them that it will not be a holiday.

And while the main objective from the trip will be to retain sharpness during the winter shutdown, the Thistle boss is also pleased to be able to use the break to re-integrate some of his injured players back into the fold.

“We were giving the boys five or six days off, and the last thing we wanted was for them to come back and be stuck in a gym hall or something if the weather was bad,” he said.

“We’ll be doing two sessions a day and obviously we will be working hard. It will be good for the likes of Mustapha Dumbuya as well because he’s back in full training with us now, and it might be more like a mini pre-season for him.

“A few of the guys who are on the sidelines and are away from the guys will come with us too. The likes Stuart Bannigan, Gary Fraser, Ryan Scully and big Liam [Lindsay] who is now injured as well, they will all be there with us.

“I’ve been there before and there’s nothing worse than being left behind. The boys will go there together, there will be a bit of banter, they will be sharing rooms together as well so it will be great for the injured lads to go and enjoy that too.”