ALAN ARCHIBALD reckons the battle for Premiership survival is a four-way fight as Partick Thistle look to retain their top flight place this term.

The Jags head into the split eighth in the standings and seven points clear of Motherwell ahead of the final five game shoot-out in the coming weeks.

Thistle are ahead of Kilmarnock on goal difference and Ross County by just one point as attentions turn to their trip to the Highlands this weekend.

Killie have been sucked into the battle at the bottom after a poor run and impressive purple patches for Archibald's side, County and the Steelmen.

With St Mirren seemingly doomed at the foot of the standings, the race is on to avoid the relegation play-off clash against the side that emerges victorious in the Championship promotion chase.

Archibald said: "It is not done yet, not by any manner of means and we know that. But we are on a good run, we are confident and we have got a bit of momentum as well.

"That had been put to the side in the lead up to the Motherwell game. It was as if we were on a bad run because Motherwell and Ross County were on good runs.

"We were always confident of our own ability and we performed really well again.

"But we were always confident that if we performed to our best then we would get a victory.

"I think it is a four-way fight now. We are in a good position, we have got a seven point cushion and we need to keep on going. We will not rest on our laurels.

"There are four teams involved in it now. I think that has sometimes been sidetracked away from the talk about it.

"We are in a good position, we will keep working hard and we have probably got the hardest fixture of the split first up."