Kris Doolan admits that he was gutted as a day that promised so much for both him personally and Partick Thistle as a whole ended in such disappointing fashion.

Doolan had hit his 99th goal for the Jags to give them a deserved lead against Inverness at Firhill on Saturday in a game which they dominated.

As the clock ticked into injury time, the only question that seemed to remain was whether or not Doolan, who donned the captain’s armband after Abdul Osman picked up an injury, would be able to hit his century of goals in red and yellow.

But in the game’s dying embers, the visitors launched one last bid to salvage something from a game in which they had long been second best, and remarkably, came up trumps.

A high ball was launched towards the back post by Billy King, and Inverness captain Gary Warren got his head to the ball to force it beyond Tomas Cerny and leave the Thistle players and fans gutted.

There was no doubt that the Firhill men justifiably felt robbed, and Doolan was at a loss to explain how they came away from the game without maximum points.

He is sure though that the late slip will prove to be a one-off, rather than signalling a return to an old failing of losing late goals on a regular basis.

"There was only five seconds left and it's cost us the win,” Doolan said. “It's sickening.

"The manager said after the game that he thought we'd got rid of that.

"It comes from a set-piece and a cross into the box, but we'd deal with that all day. It was one slip and we have paid the price.

"It wasn't a mental thing because I don't think Inverness really threatened us that much.

"We had dealt with the high balls and Tomas Cerny didn't have any difficult saves to make.

"It wasn't as if we were scrambling about making saves but it only takes a second to score and that's what happened.”

If Thistle had managed to hold out, they could have opened up some clear daylight between themselves in sixth place and the chasing pack below.

At one point they looked assured of a five-point lead over the bottom six clubs, but a late winner for Kilmarnock at Ross County and Warren’s last-gasp header put paid to that.

As it is, they will travel to Kilmarnock next week with a two-point cushion over the Rugby Park side, and Doolan was attempting to accentuate the positive ahead of the trip to Ayrshire.

"The good thing is we didn't get beat,” he said. “We have a point and maybe in past years we wouldn't have had. We are grinding out points but we need to build on it.

"Getting the win would have helped our position and we are all hurting. But we go to Kilmarnock looking for three points.”

Perhaps it was fated that Doolan would be left needing just one goal to hit the 100 mark as he takes to the field next week at the ground where it all began for him.

The striker would dearly have loved to put the issue to bed on Saturday, but there was an unmistakable glint in his eye when the prospect of achieving the feat against the club that let him go as a youngster was put to him.

"I thought the 100th goal was going to come as we looked dangerous every time we went forward,” he said.

"But that's 99. There is one to go now and we will move on to next week.”