THERE was a mixture of emotions a week ago after we beat St Mirren to confirm our place in the Premiership for a third successive season.

We are obviously delighted and relieved, but I think there was a bit of frustration as well because we realise that we could have been in the top six this year.

It never happened, though, but I think we have got to be delighted with what we have achieved again.

There is not a lot between the teams in the league and it is fine lines and small margins. You can look back over the season and say 'we could have' or 'we should have', but other teams will be doing the same.

We are pleased to be in the Premiership for a third season and it is a great achievement for everyone at the club.

For a club like Thistle, and in our second season in the league, the main aim is to survive. The nature of the league seems to be that you are either top six or bottom six and that is it.

I don't think finishing in the second half of the table can be deemed a failure, especially when you are the position we are in.

We are realistic and we have got our own goals. The first one was to stay in the league, which we have done.

If we can become a steady fixture in the Premiership, the club will become stronger on and off the pitch. Rome wasn't built in a day, and we are realistic about where we are and what we need to do.

We are happy with the way the team has progressed from last season and the boys have shown great character to come through the sticky patch we had and put together the excellent run that we are on.

We are delighted to be safe once again and the performances the boys have put in over the last couple of months have been superb.

The quicker you can stay up, the quicker you can start to look to next season and that is what we have been able to do over the last few days.

It is great that we are safe and we can start looking ahead, but we still have three important games to play and we are looking forward to the trip to Hamilton this afternoon.

I can't believe that today will be the 100th game in charge for Alan Archibald and me. It has flown by, but I have loved every minute of it.

There have been a lot of highs - and some lows - but it has been a great experience.

Alan and I have got a good relationship and we work well together.

We have had a great reaction from the players since the day we came in.

Hopefully we can keep building on it, and I think we are heading in the right direction.

I don't think we are far away from being in the top six. We have got a good squad of players here, a squad that know their jobs and have proven they can play at this level.

We are going the right way and we are looking to build on it again next year.

We have got three games to play this season, and hopefully we can catch Hamilton and get into seventh place.

We are pleased with the overall progress of the team, and I am sure the fans are as well.

And hopefully we can continue this good run and finish the season on a high once again.