KRIS Doolan says Partick Thistle’s impressive win over Ross County on Friday was a shot in the arm for his side after it propelled the Jags off the foot of the Ladbrokes Premiership table.

The striker netted the second goal of a 3-1 victory in Dingwall that saw Thistle end a seven-match winless run and move within two points of the Staggies and a top six berth.

After failing to put three points on the board since October, Alan Archibald’s side produced a superb second half display to blow away the Highlanders and score three goals in a league game for the first time this season.

Liam Lindsay broke the deadlock after the interval before Doolan’s header doubled their lead shortly after. Chris Erskine put the result beyond doubt on the 78th minute with his side’s third, despite a late consolation from County danger man and Premiership top scorer Liam Boyce.

Doolan, who notched his fifth strike of the season at the Global Energy Stadium, admitted that he hadn’t expected such an emphatic scoreline but believes it was just rewards for his side’s recent performances.

He said: “It’s a massive shot in the arm. The situation before the game, we’d have taken any kind of win but to come up and score three goals is more than we expected but not any less than we deserved.

“It has been (coming). We’ve actually played well for a big portion of the games, we’ve just given away silly goals in the last minute of games to either throw away three points or walk away with a point, it’s held us back for a while.

“But that kind of performance and result has been coming so now we just look forward.

“It’s massive (to score three goals) but that’s been coming as well, we have been creating chances and now we’ve got them from boys in different positions – a centre half, a striker and a midfielder all scoring, that’s what it’s all about, you need goals coming from all over the park.”

The build-up to Friday night’s game was dominated by doubts over whether Storm Barbara would cause a late cancellation, with severe weather conditions predicted to hit the north of Scotland.

High winds and a flurry of snow and sleet showers had their impact on the game, but Doolan insists the potential of a call-off didn’t weigh on his mind before kick-off.

“We just treated it like the game was going to be on,” he explained.

“The manager told us that in training, just to be prepared for it the same way we would with any other game.

“With the weather we didn’t know what to expect but it actually wasn’t that bad when we got here.

“The wind did make it difficult, it’s the same for both teams but we were expecting far worse from the reports we were hearing, so it turned out not so bad and I think we dealt with the conditions pretty well.”

Thistle’s win means they move off the bottom of the table in time for Christmas and will prepare for their final two fixtures of 2016 in high spirits.

The Jags face Dundee and Kilmarnock at Firhill over the next week, two sides that both currently sit one point ahead of them in the top-flight table, before league action goes into hibernation until the end of January.