ROSS County dragged Partick Thistle deep into the relegation mire, and gave themselves a huge lifeline in the process, with a thumping win over shockingly poor Thistle outfit at the Global Energy Stadium.

Alex Schalk was the hero as his hat-trick – along with a Ross Draper goal - saw the home side trade places with the shambolic visitors at the foot of the table on goal difference, making it game on in the battle to stay in the division. Thistle will hope it isn’t game over, but they will have to pick themselves up quickly for their remaining six games after this abysmal display.

For County, hauling themselves off the bottom of the Premiership pile for the first time this year, hope now springs anew. For Thistle, the mood is gloomier than the murkiest of Dingwall skies, with their recent record making for grim reading. They are now without a win in their last nine, and haven’t managed goal in their last four games.

As season-defining matches come, they don’t get much bigger than this, and the magnitude of the occasion was evident among both sets of players. The ball was as black and blue as the County strip in the opening exchanges, with defenders booming it forward at every opportunity and both sets of forwards working off of scraps.

In such circumstances, set-pieces usually prove to be crucial, and they were the best source of opportunity for both sides early on.

Thistle had the first chance, as an inswinging corner from former County man Martin Woods was glanced towards goal by Baily Cargill, but a combination of Scott Fox and the near post managed to keep it out, before Conor Sammon’s follow-up effort was blocked clear.

County should have taken the lead from their own set-piece opportunity as a free-kick from Michael Gardyne found the towering Harry Souttar unmarked in the area, but his header skewed well wide of the target when he really should have been working Ryan Scully.

The match had descended into the type of scrappy, tense encounter that was always likely to be on the cards given what was at stake, with both sides struggling to string together a couple of passes, let alone carve out any goalmouth action to warm up the freezing supporters.

The stalemate was finally broken 10 minutes before the interval as Max Melbourne broke into the area and was halted by the challenge of Niall Keown, only for the ball to spin back to Schalk, who provided a rare moment of quality by touching the ball onto his right foot and drilling it into the net low to Scully’s right.

That was all the encouragement they needed, and remarkably, they soon doubled their lead, although Thistle will be bitterly disappointed by how passive their defending was as they conceded such a crucial goal. A corner from the right was swung to the back post by Schalk, and Draper simply wanted the ball more than the visiting defenders as he powered a header home.

Thistle manager Alan Archibald made a double-change at the break as Chris Erskine and Blair Spittal replaced Miles Storey and Ryan Edwards, but it was County who came out of the traps to threaten first, that man Schalk getting a yard of space and firing just over from 25 yards.

The Dutch forward had another good opportunity as the Thistle backline allowed a long clearance to simply bounce through them and put him in on goal, but from a tight angle he could only shoot high and wide.

He did have the ball in the net moments later only to be denied by the offside flag, but the ease at which County were now getting in behind the Thistle backline was striking, and it seemed a matter of time before they delivered the coup de grace. They duly did just 10 minutes after the restart, and it was no surprise to see who got the goal.

A long ball from Scott Fox in the County goal was dealt with in miserable fashion by the Thistle defence, and Schalk raced in, opened up his body, and placed the ball brilliantly into the far corner.

The goal knocked out what little stuffing was left in the visitors, with the response meek to non-existent. In fact, it would get even worse for the Firhill men, as Marcus Fraser sauntered past Adam Barton and into the area, where Scully saved his close-range effort and Schalk reacted quickest to bundle in for his hat-trick off the underside of the bar.

You couldn’t help but feel for the hardy band of 247 Thistle supporters who had travelled through the wind, snow and hail at great expense to witness such a supine display. It was a long way back to the warmth of their beds, and although they are still level on points with County at the bottom of the table, on this evidence it will be a long way back for Thistle in the fight for survival.

Referee: Willie Collum

Attendance: 3944