Partick Thistle boss Alan Archibald has told his men to be ready for a scrap this Saturday as they go toe-to-toe in a relegation dogfight with Hamilton Accies at Firhill.

While the Jags have ambitions of a top-six finish this year, the first priority for the club is to make sure that they stay in the Premiership.

From the obvious financial benefits to attracting players at both first-team and academy level, Archibald is at pains to point out just how crucial their top-flight status is to the club.

That’s why he has challenged his players to do everything they can to dig out three points against their eleventh-placed opponents at Firhill on Saturday as they look to open up a vital cushion to the bottom places.

“It will be a battle, it could be a relegation battle, and we have to make sure we’re ready for it,” Archibald said.

“They play in an aggressive manner and they have good flair players too. I think the lad Ali Crawford has a chance to come back, and they have good footballers at the top end of the pitch. They score in a lot of their games and they cause teams problems with their style.

“We’re aware of that, we know about it, we have to make sure we adapt and mix it up, and not just go out and think we are going to pass the ball to death.”

Archibald has only lost once to Hamilton in 13 matches against the Lanarkshire outfit as a manager, and he is all too aware of the psychological advantage to be gained from maintaining that record.

“The game this weekend is huge,” he said. “Someone told me that if we win it we could go sixth, but if we don’t then we could go eleventh, and that shows you how tight the league is, it’s crazy.

“Games like this are massive, and we’ve all got similar games coming up from sixth place downwards.

“It’s vital that we take three points and go and build on it, because if not, everybody is looking over their shoulder.

“Psychologically it can paint a massively different picture. The biggest thing is that we can be another few points away from Hamilton and Inverness if we win the game, but they’ll be thinking the same thing.

“That’s the incentive for them, the chance to leapfrog us. We have to be aware of that, although not feel pressured by it, and do what we can to get the three points.”

There was another milestone for Archibald to look back on yesterday after clocking up four years in charge at the club a couple of weeks ago, as the anniversary of his first game in charge ticked by.

“I remember it vividly, the 2-2 at Cappielow,” he recalled. “It was a good performance from the lads because we actually had a man sent off.

“We were 2-0 up and eventually were pegged back, but it was a good day and the one thing that has never changed is that we had a good bunch of players then and we still do now.

“They have always responded to different results positively and that’s something they still do now.

“I think if you have a manager in charge over the longer term you will always have that relationship with the players because you’re building something long-term all the time.

“I haven’t turned grey yet, but it will come, don’t worry about it. I’ve got wrinkles instead of grey hair!”

*The next public meeting of the Partick Thistle Football Club Trust will be held in the Colin Weir Stand at 1pm ahead of Saturday’s home match against Hamilton. The meeting is open to all supporters who may wish to attend.