BAILY CARGILL has played at Old Trafford for parent club Bournemouth and been relegated with Torquay during a previous loan spell, but the Partick Thistle defender is in no doubt that Friday’s clash with Ross County is the most important match of his career.

Thistle go into the match two points clear of County at the foot of the table, and could take a massive leap towards hauling in Hamilton and Dundee – who sit four points clear – with a win.

And Cargill thinks that the win over Accies and the battling draw against St Johnstone means that Thistle will be going into the game in fine fettle despite their precarious position.

“I was talking to one of my friends the other day and I was saying that this game will probably be the most important I’ve played in,” said Cargill.

“I was in a relegation battle while I was at Torquay, but I feel that there is a little bit more riding on this up here at Thistle than there was then.

“It will definitely be the most high-pressure game that I’ve played in, but it’s one that I’m looking forward to.

“We all know how massive a game it is on Friday. It will be the biggest game of the season for us so far, so I’m glad that we’re going into it after picking up a bit of form.

“We all enjoyed the Hamilton game at home, and I think last week showed good character. In previous games, we’ve just gone under when we’ve gone 1-0 behind, so even though a point probably wasn’t enough, it was a good sign.

“The psychological effect of losing that game could have been massive, and that point could end up being a good one come the end of the season. We might stay up by a point, so it is pleasing that we dug it out and scrapped to get that.”

Cargill has set his sights not only on maximum points from the match against County, but on avoiding the relegation play-off by taking wins from Thistle’s other two remaining fixtures against Motherwell and Dundee.

“Dundee and Hamilton play each other on Saturday, so if we get maximum points on Friday night then we’ll be a point behind them,” he said.

“That leaves us either a point behind one of them or two points behind both of them come Saturday evening, and it’s back to being a one-game swing.

“We’ve also still got to play Dundee, so if we can win all three of our games I think we will stay up automatically. That has to be the aim.

“We need to take each game as it comes, but nine points from the next three should 100% ensure we stay up automatically.”

Revenge is also on Cargill’s mind going into the Friday night clash at Firhill after the Jags put in a nightmarish display in a 4-0 defeat in Dingwall a month ago.

He admits that the penny dropped on the long journey back home from that game that Thistle had a real fight on their hands.

“That was the worst performance we’ve had since I got here,” he said. “We didn’t give a very good account of ourselves, so for sure, we owe them one. Fingers crossed we can do to them what they did to us.

“I think that was when we really realised that we had a big fight on our hands. We went there looking to win the game, and not only did we leave with nothing, we turned in one of the worst performances of the season.

“We had time to reflect on it on the way down the road, and I think we have turned the corner in terms of our performances and our results.”