Blair Spittal has set his sights on renewing his frontline partnership with Kris Doolan to help fire Partick Thistle out of the Premier League basement zone.

Spittal’s first goal of the season against Ross County on Saturday looked to have set Jags on course for their first win of the season.

But a late penalty from Alex Schalk rescued a share of the points for the Highlanders – and extended Thistle’s winless run of top-flight games to 11.

Spittal said: “Obviously, we wanted the win desperately and aren’t content with the point but based on the play a draw is probably fair. 

“They started very well and had a few decent opportunities but we came back into it after about 15 minutes. We managed to get the goal around 20 minutes which helped us settle in and allowed us to start playing more of our game.

“Second half, I thought we were decent in parts but dropped too deep as the game went on, maybe because we were so keen to get the win.
Veteran hitman Doolan set up Spittal for his goal – and he hopes it’s a sign of things to come as he tries to nail down a place in Alan Archibald’s starting XI after an injury lay-off.

Spittal said: “It was a good feeling to score and get my first league goal for Thistle. 

“It was smart play by Kris Doolan with the quick throw, he spotted my run well and I managed to get in behind. To be honest, I didn’t see it hit the net because I basically slide tackled it in but it was nice to grab a goal even though I’d have liked it to be the winner.

“Dools is great for linking up and that sort of thing. His movement is great so I enjoy playing alongside him. 

“Hopefully I can build these sorts of understandings with all the forward players at the club and build on my goal tally.

“Against Aberdeen last time out, I was involved in all the goals and two came from set-pieces. That’s something that we do work on in training and it came off for us in that game.

“Of course I was delighted to be in amongst the action last week and it was even better to get a goal this week. My individual aim is just to score and create as much as possible this season.”

Thistle boss Archibald admitted it felt like two points dropped but was delighted to get Jags first point of the season on the board.

He said: “I thought we had the better chances first-half. I thought we dealt with the onslaught in the first 10 or 15 minutes. We knew that was coming.

“Once we dealt with that, it opened up a bit and I thought we looked really dangerous on the counter-attack and picked some great areas up.

“Delighted with the performance. Obviously we were penned in in the second-half, but I thought we rode the storm actually and dealt with their two strikers up to that point - and then we don’t deal with an aimless ball into the box.

“That’s the positive - we got a point and we’re not sitting on zero points so that’s a big positive, but it feels like a defeat because we were leading for so long in the game.”

THISTLE will now turn their thoughts to facing Rangers at Firhill on Friday in the first of a double-header against Pedro Caixinha’s men.

The Ibrox side got back to winning ways on Saturday with the 4-1 victory over Dundee on home soil.

And Spittal admits Thistle face a tough night as Rangers  look to build some momentum after an inconsistent start.

He told Thistle’s website:  “We’ll look at the match during the week and reflect on the game. We have to be positive going into the Rangers clash. 

“They’ll be heavy favourites but we have to show everyone what we’re all about by causing them problems.

“We play them twice in quick succession but we know we have to take each game on its own. We just have to look at the St. Johnstone games to see that you can play the same opposition but have two very different games.”