It would be understandable if Adam Barton was at least a little bitter about the way his football career has panned out to date.

While he is happy and feels privileged to be at Partick Thistle, it could all have been so different for the 26-year-old.

Impressing for Preston in the Championship and with larger clubs sniffing about, Barton seemed to have a pathway to the Premier League mapped out for him. But then, disaster struck.

He got his studs stuck in the turf in a match against Walsall, and suffered a horror triple leg break and dislocated ankle.

As if that wasn't bad enough, his decision to swap international allegiances from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland backfired as he missed out on a potential place at the Euros last summer.

But Barton, possibly the most laid-back person in Scottish football, doesn't do regrets.

“It’s easy for me to sit here and say that now with where I am, but at the time, the reason I made that decision was because I was doing well in the English Championship with Preston," Barton said.

“Things were looking really good, but then I broke my ankle and other things happened, so I didn’t regret it at the time and I can’t really say I do now.

“Obviously if I had stuck with Northern Ireland I could have had a possibility of going to the Euros, but that’s life and the decision I made at the time.

“If I hadn’t broken my ankle then I could be somewhere else, you never know, but I don’t really regret those sorts of things in life because all they do is give you a negative mind-set.

“I’m very realistic and I know where I stand, and England was a long way away, even though I was 19, playing in the Championship and doing very well.

“England have players playing in the Premiership at young ages, and when I thought about the Republic I thought I would go into the under-21s, get a few caps then hopefully keep doing well for Preston.

“At that time I was talking to bigger clubs as well and having meetings with bigger clubs, so you make decisions and it was the right decision at that time.

“It was a shame about my ankle break which set me back a bit. I met with Stoke and there was a lot of things in the paper and my agent was speaking to clubs as well, so I know that was legit.

“I’ll always have the ambition to play international football, but I wouldn’t say it was my main goal.

“If it happens, it happens, but it will only happen if my other goals are met. I want to do well here and if that happens then hopefully it will push on to bigger and better things.”

Thistle as a club appear to be on the verge of bigger and better things than they have achieved in modern times, with a top six place looking likely if they can see of Ross County at Firhill today.

The last two matches however have seen the Jags concede winning positions late in the day, and Barton says that they may have to sacrifice some of their footballing principles to make sure they avoid any repeat this afternoon.

"Hopefully, we’ll get a goal or two against Ross County and, when we reach the last 10 minutes of the game, make sure we do things properly this time," he said.

“If that means kicking it into the corners and holding play up then fair enough – at the end of the day, that’s what wins you games.

“Sometimes – and I don’t like saying it - you’ve just got to keep the ball and make sure it’s in the other team’s half.

“You can’t just try and play at that stage and we don’t need to. We’re there to win a game, not show people what good footballers we are and that definitely works at the tail end of matches.

“We need to do the ugly stuff and grind out results, especially with the way pitches are at the moment. You can’t play nice football on them so you must adapt to the circumstances.

“That can be hard because some people, like myself, are always looking to pass the ball forward when we get it. Then the management ask: ‘Why are you passing it there? That’s dangerous – the ball might take a bobble and we’ll lose possession.’

“Hopefully, the surfaces will be better after the international break and we can go back to what we want to do.”