ON the face of it, Conor Sammon’s late penalty to earn Partick Thistle a draw against St Johnstone yesterday doesn’t materially change their perilous predicament too much, but there is no underplaying just how much of a psychological boost it has given them ahead of Friday night’s crunch match against Ross County at Firhill.

The point gained leaves them in the relegation play-off spot, four adrift of Dundee and two ahead of bottom club County, but the fillip his players may get from being on the right end of a late goal for once wasn’t lost on manager Alan Archibald ahead of their biggest match of the season.

“It showed a real spirit,” Archibald said. “People thought we’d come here and win just because we have a good record here an St Johnstone are safe.

“But other teams have a lot to play for and St Johnstone were very good at stopping us playing. We didn’t have any flow to our play and our levels were below last week.

“But the lads kept going and showed huge spirit. It’s not just the point or the fact we are unbeaten for two games, which might sound a bit pathetic, but the psychological boost going in to the Ross County game is the biggest thing.

“It’s a massive game for us.”

The first half of this largely forgettable encounter was so devoid of quality that the brilliant touch by Liam Craig on the byline to kill a long up and under from Steven Anderson almost had you out of your seat. The midfielder then swung an inviting ball to the back post where Joe Shaughnessy nodded back across goal and into the opposite corner of the net.

It was after the interval before Thistle mustered a response, but they at last got something decent on target as Chris Erskine met a Callum Booth cross flush on the volley, but his shot was straight down the throat of home goalkeeper Zander Clark. They went closer soon after as Kris Doolan rose to head a Martin Woods free-kick off the face of the bar.

St Johnstone could have wrapped the game up as George Williams turned on the edge of the area and got a low shot away that Tomas Cerny did well to smother.

Thistle had plenty of the ball and tried to pass it on the rutted McDiarmid Park surface, but when they got to within sight of the home goal they didn’t have the guile to break through the massed ranks of the Saints defence.

But just as all hope looked lost, substitute Ryan Edwards burst into the area with two minutes left of normal time and was bundled over by Craig, leaving referee Alan Muir no option but to point to the spot. Up stepped Sammon to send Clark the wrong way, and give Thistle renewed hope that they might yet scramble to safety.

For Saints, the point means that they have no such worries over relegation, not that manager Tommy Wright’s disappointment at his side’s late slackness was eased by that.

“I don’t think it’s any consolation, no,” said Wright. “Not at the minute.”

“You can lose late goals, but it is the manner of who we have lost it. That has been our Achilles heel most of the season.

“All round it is a rank bad goal. It is something that has cost us three points because we were easily the better side. We were in control and we were the better team, but we should have seen it out."