Sean Welsh believes that he might currently be in the best form of his Partick Thistle career after putting the injury struggles of his past firmly behind him.

The midfielder has been impressive at the heart of the Thistle engine room in recent weeks, and has been an integral part of the upturn in results that has seen the Jags rise to mid-table.

He feels he is in his best physical condition for years, and that both he and Thistle are reaping the rewards of that on the field.

It is of little surprise then that he is among the nominees for the McCrea Financial Services player of the month award.

“It’s going well at the moment both for the team and personally,” Welsh said

“It’s probably the best form I’ve been for the club, and certainly since I got myself fit again over the last couple of years.

“It’s enjoyable to be playing well and especially when the team are doing well too. It’s rewarding all round.

“I had a good first season at the club when we won the league and everything went well for everyone, and then I had the nightmare that everyone knows about, but that’s in the past now.

“I’ve been injury-free for a while now, and things seem to be going better for me now on the pitch because I’m getting that extra fitness and stamina now. That’s allowing me to show my best form on the park for the team.”

It’s a simple fact in football that given the fickle nature of supporters, players will come in for criticism from time to time.

But Welsh, along with team-mates like Danny Devine who has also started to show his best form over recent weeks, enjoys the challenge of silencing the critics.

“Everyone has got their doubters in football, but it’s lovely to see people proving their doubters wrong,” he said.

“It’s always rewarding when players are playing well and the team is doing well, and that’s what we as players want.”

The form of Welsh and his team-mates in the midfield area is perhaps best typified by the fact the long-term absences of players like Stuart Bannigan and Gary Fraser have not been as keenly felt as might have been expected.

“Personally I never had a worry about the Thistle midfield,” he said.

“I know myself, Abdul and Ryan are good enough to step in at any time and if people were worried about that then I think we’ve shown that they shouldn’t have been.

“I don’t think the gaffer really had a worry.”

The Thistle squad flew out to La Manga yesterday to begin a week of warm-weather training, and Welsh says the trip can stand them in good stead for the challenges ahead.

“We’re all looking forward to it, it’s freezing here so hopefully we’ll get some decent weather and some good training under our belt,” he said.

“I’m sure it will be a tough week, but it will be a change of scenery. Hopefully that will stand us in good stead to come back and kick on in the second half of the season.

“The break has probably come at a bad time because we had the momentum and we were on the up, but a few boys have niggles so it’s good timing for them.

“It works both ways, it lets everyone get recharged and hopefully we can pick up where we left off when we come back against Formartine in the Scottish Cup.”