STEPHEN O'Donnell believes Partick can learn how to grind out results from tough away games by taking a strictly Academical approach.

The Thistle right-back was left gutted when a late Nadir Ciftci penalty gave Dundee United all three points from a Tannadice encounter the Jags dominated for long spells.

But although the result represented another visit to the school of hard knocks for his team, O'Donnell felt they had earned pass marks by putting into practice lessons learned from studying Alex Neil's incredible Hamilton side.

Accies have stormed to the top of the SPFL Premiership with a series of stunning victories against the league's big guns, all achieved on the back of a combination of exceptionally high workrate, great teamwork and incisiveness around goal.

O'Donnell saw enough effort and organisation from his team on Tayside to predict better times ahead for Thistle this term, even if the necessary cutting edge wasn't quite there on Saturday and luck deserted them near the end.

"Look at Hamilton and what they do," O'Donnell explained. "They press very hard as a team all over the pitch and stop the opposition from playing.

"They hurry them up and don't let them dictate the game. Then, when they have the ball, they look to use the bit of quality in their side.

"That's what we tried to do against United. We worked very hard as a unit to nullify their good players. We competed very well. We also tried to push forward when we had possession and we carved out some half-decent chances.

"It just wasn't to be our day, though. The goal they got was a sickener. Ciftci looked well offside when he ran through for the penalty."

Jags boss Alan Archibald also felt the United striker had looked "at least two yards off" before he raced into the Thistle 18-yard box six minutes from time, only to be brought crashing to earth by a challenge from the chasing Dan Seaborne.

In the absence of a flag from his assistant, referee Steven McLean had no option but to award the penalty and send off the Partick captain.

And when Ciftci netted from the spot, the visitors were left with nothing to show for an afternoon of application, determination and no little skill.

Archibald had set his team up with Kris Doolan as a lone striker but with James Craigen given licence to get forward quickly from midfield to harass ex-Jags star Paul Paton.

The Northern Ireland international had been looking to run the game from a position just in front of his back four.

But Craigen closed him down quickly time and again, to such an extent that Paton was replaced by Ryan Dow after only 64 minutes.

Thistle's first clear chance came when Craigen robbed Paton to set up Doolan for a shot that Radoslaw Cierzniak did well to save at full stretch.

The United keeper produced an even better save after the break to tip another fine Doolan shot round the post.

Then the shot-stopper could only stand and watch as a bending shot from Christie Elliott clattered off his crossbar.

That close thing came at a stage in the second half when Thistle were dominating possession, allowing O'Donnell and left-back Jordan McMillan to bomb forward on the overlap.

Despite the late kick in the teeth, O'Donnell took heart from the fact Thistle's display was a massive improvement on their previous showings at the same stadium.

"We came here three times last season, twice in the league and once in the cup, and were turned over each time," he recalled. "This time we competed with United from the start and even had patches of the game when we were in control."