ALAN ARCHIBALD has promised Partick Thistle will reach out a guiding hand to Steven Lawless following his betting suspension.

The Firhill forward was hit with a six match ban yesterday, with four games of that suspended until the end of next season, by an SFA disciplinary tribunal for being in breach of SFA gambling rules.

Lawless was found to have placed bets on 513 football matches over three different periods since December 2012, and will now miss out on Thistle's season finale away to Motherwell tomorrow.

But while the 24-year-old has also been the subject of internal disciplinary procedure within the club, manager Archibald insists his player should be supported through this difficult period and will be helped to overcome any problem that may exist.

He said: "I will speak to Steven. A lot has been made about him, with people saying 'he's a stupid this and a stupid that'.

"Yes he broke the rules and he will be dealt with but there could be a problem there. I think that gets quickly brushed over. I don't think you make that many bets without maybe a problem there.

"We will give Steven all the help he needs if he has a problem. We will back him to the hilt.

"I think a different picture is painted of footballers, but they are vulnerable like anyone else. It doesn't matter what you do, be it work in an office or be a train driver, you can get sucked into gambling.

"It looks like Stevie has put a lot of bets on but we will sit down with him and deal with it internally but we want to help him."

Archibald was keen not to vilify or single out Lawless in his view of the whole attitude in Scotland now towards gambling, insisting that help and awareness must be provided across the board to tackle the issue.

"I think people should be helping the players not just giving them a ban," he said.

"Yes they broke the rules and they were silly but the next step should be trying to help the players.

"I have seen a lot of stories saying he is a numpty but why don't they look at see if he has a problem first.

"I think there might be problems with other players too. The rules are don't bet, but if the rules are don't drink and you are an alcoholic, then you are still going to drink aren't you."

Turning his attention to this weekend, Archibald has aspirations to finish Thistle's second season in the top flight on a high.

Having already secured eighth place - an improvement on 10th from last season - the Jags can consider their campaign a job well done.

Given the nature of the split, Archibald's team can bizarrely finish on more points than Dundee in sixth.

And after they lost 4-1 at home to Kilmarnock last weekend, the Thistle manager is focused on completing the campaign with a spring in their step.

He said: "Dundee have had a lot harder fixtures than we have and they had the job done in getting into the top six.

"We have had a satisfying season by finishing eighth and I am delighted by that. We have a bit of frustration as well because we know if he didn't have that bad run earlier this season then we might have been closer to the top six but there is a few other teams in the same boat.

Archibald added: "Our target is to progress. We have finished eighth this season, so progression for us next season will be seventh or sixth.

"We know the league is going to get harder and it looks like a couple of other big budgets coming into the league - depending what happens with the play-offs.

"Hearts will be a massive addition so it is going to get tougher but anyone can beat anyone else on their day and as long as we are progressing then I will be happy."