RYAN EDWARDS has blamed Partick Thistle’s woes on a collective mental weakness as his side face their biggest game of the season.

The Jags are in Dingwall tonight to face Ross County, who sit three points behind in last place, for a match they simply cannot afford to lose.

Should Thistle win they will close the gap on Dundee, who are at Celtic Park tomorrow, and Hamilton who are away tonight at Easter Road.

But defeat would take County above Thistle with just one weekend to go before the spit.

And Edwards admitted that for his team a major problem has been what’s happened in the head, rather than their ability to kick a football about the pitch.

“Mentally, throughout the whole season, we need to have been better,” said the Australian who played his 100th game for Partick at the weekend.

“Physically and tactically we’ve been fine. But mentally we haven’t been as good as we had been. I think that’s shown in the results, how late we’ve conceded goals and how deep we’ve gone in games.

“Our first half performances compared to our second half ones have been massively different. The one goal is to move as far away from the playoff position as possible as we stay in the league next season. We have seven cup finals.

“It’s the biggest game of the season for us. Every game has been really important for us but you come to this game, a bottom of the table clash, and if we win it we can pull ourselves further away from Ross County.

“If they win we will go bottom and it makes it really difficult for us so it’s going to be a really interesting game and hopefully we can get the three points and then try to catch Dundee.

No matter what happens in the Highlands, Thistle would still have chances to save themselves, given how tight it is between the bottom four sides.

But the position is precarious for a team which has not picked up a win in their last seven league games.

Asked what losing Premiership status would mean, Alan Archibald, the Partick Thistle manager painted a bleak picture.

He admitted: “It would be huge. We all know that and it drives the club on. It is horrible to say but people do lose their jobs if you are not in the Premiership.

“It affects everybody. The change in this club over the last five years has been massive and it means a whole lot to stay in this league.

“If you have not won a lot of games it affects your confidence. It affects your decision making. When you are down the bottom end your decision making goes a little bit.

“Most of the guys where here when we made the top six last year so you can see how quickly things change.

“The two teams are not high on confidence but we both know what the prize is. There is a huge incentive to win the game.”

Edwards was pleased with his milestone but the Australian would hate to mark in a season which ended in relegation.

He said: “I knew I was close to 100 games but I didn’t realise it was the Hibernian game. Obviously you sit back after the game and remember where you have come from growing up in Australian to where you are now.

“I’m really grateful to Partick Thistle. It’s great to look back on your career but obviously you don’t want a relegation on your CV. I’ll do whatever is required to stay in the Premiership."