PARTICK THISTLE need to get back to basics and be harder to beat according to defender Danny Devine as they look to avoid more capital punishment this weekend.

The Jags were thumped by three goals to nil when they travelled to Edinburgh before the international break to take on Hearts, with Devine dismayed by the soft nature of the goals they conceded in an appalling first-half display.

It was a far-cry from the resolute defensive showing they produced the previous week to shut out Aberdeen at Firhill, and Devine believes that the Thistle players have to get back to those levels if they are to have any chance of taking anything from this weekend’s visit to Easter Road.

“Hibs are obviously doing really well right now,” said Devine. “So, we know that it is going to be a tough match.

“But there’s no reason why we can’t go there and take something, or even win the game.

“Despite what happened at Tynecastle, that belief has got to come from within us as players. We know we are a lot better than we showed on that afternoon.

“The biggest disappointment for me was the way we defended as a team and the soft goals we gave them. Hearts are a good team, but we didn’t even really make them work for their goals.

“We have been working hard during the break on getting back to being a solid unit once again, and we almost have to get back to basics in terms of the way we are defending, and making sure that we don’t just hand them the game again.

“It hasn’t been ideal having that result and performance against Hearts hanging over us during the international break, but it has allowed us to really look at what went wrong and address it.

“We are expecting a much better display against Hibs, and we are going there fully believing that we can win the game.”

Devine may be confident that Thistle can upset the odds against Neil Lennon’s side on Saturday, but that doesn’t mean he is naïve to the dire predicament that his side are currently facing in the Premiership table.

But he thinks that the requisite resolve exists inside the Firhill changing room to pull themselves clear of danger over the coming weeks.

“The manager has been reminding us all that we are good players, and we know we are good players,” he said.

“That doesn’t suddenly change overnight, it’s just a case of finding that confidence again.

“We have more than enough in our dressing room to get ourselves out of this situation, but it is up to us to show that we deserve to stay in this league.

“We’re not stupid, we know exactly the situation we are facing at the minute, but there is no doubt in our minds that we have the ability to get the results we need to climb the table.

“We obviously need to show that n the pitch now, but we are determined to do just that.”