CHRISTIE Elliott has pledged to play his part in ensuring Partick Thistle’s safety after finally recovering from his injury hell.

The versatile Geordie, who has been out of action since the end of September after fracturing his ankle and damaging ligaments in a draw against Hearts at Firhill, made his comeback in the right- back berth as Thistle earned a vital point at home on Saturday in the 0-0 draw with Aberdeen.

Elliott, 26, has fought his way to fitness over the winter months in a bid to get back and help the survival push.

“It’s been hard,” admitted Elliott.

“I’ve always come to watch the games and support the boys.

“We went through a tough stage and made it hard for ourselves but we’ve got a number of games now to make it right and I’m sure we will.

“It’s been a hard four months but we’ve got a good physio and a good group of lads who have kept me positive every day.

“It’s been about hard work and it’s good to get back.”

Elliott’s performance at the back played a huge part in keeping Aberdeen out and earned what he described as a “massive result”.

Especially after watching helplessly the devastating loss of the last-minute goals in recent defeats to Hamilton and Dundee.

“We’ll take the point and look to build on it,” said Elliott.

With Tynecastle and Craig Levein’s Hearts next on the horizon for the Jags, Elliott added: “The next four games are massive for us now.

“Produce that performance in the next four games and I’m sure we’ll do good.

“In the past we’ve conceded late goals.

“Late goals kill you inside.

“We were so disappointed in conceding the way we did.

“But we defended on Saturday as a unit, from the front, and we’ll build on that now and take it into the next game.”

Dundee, three points above 11-placed Jags, losing heavily to St Johnstone on Saturday certainly helped but Elliott insisted: “We need to concentrate on ourselves first.”

However, after such a prolonged period on the sidelines, the Englishman admitted he needed to put his feet up on Saturday night.

“I was a little bit tired to be fair,” he said.

“Obviously I’ve played a few reserve games but it was hard – but it’s something to build on now. I’ve got take the things from Saturday’s game and go from there.”

Originally told he could face six months out, Elliott, at the club since 2011 and who has a deal until next year, admitted he feared his season could be finished.

“When I got told how long I could be out it hurts you a little bit, but we’ve got a good group and, while there were good days and bad days, it was about keeping my head down and working hard.”

Hard work – and organisation – was exactly what Alan Archibald called for on Saturday and the Partick Thistle manager was duly rewarded with a strong performance from his players.

Archibald said: “I was delighted with the clean sheet and thought it was merited, especially the second-half performance. I hope we go and build on it.

“Aberdeen are a good side.

“I think the last 20 minutes of the first half, Aberdeen were really dominant.

“The game got too stretched but I thought we improved in the second half. I thought there was a bit of desire there.”

Thistle had few chances but, after the misery of the closing stages in recent weeks, could have won the game at the death when Freddie Woodman pushed away substitute Ryan Edwards’ drive from the angle.

“We were a bit tentative,” said Archibald.

“At the end we broke away and you could see us thinking ‘do we go for it or not?’, but delighted after losing late goals to get a good clean sheet.”