Ryan Stevenson says that it will be hard work and not luck that will win him a place back in Partick Thistle’s starting eleven.

Stevenson came off the bench on Saturday to net a fortuitous last-minute winner for the Jags against Inverness, as his cross evaded everyone and ended up in the net.

Whilst he welcomed the touch of fortune for his side, he knows that he still has a lot of work to do to nail down a spot back in Alan Archibald’s side.

“I think we were probably due a bit of luck,” he said.

“It was obviously just a cross into an area and luckily enough Pogs (Mathias Pogba) has missed it and it’s went in.

“I was just hoping that somebody got on the end of it but luckily enough it took a good bounce and ended up in the back of the net.

“We’ve lost a few goals in the dying minutes of games recently so it was nice to be on the other side of it.

“From a personal level it’s been disappointing that I’ve not played as often as I would have liked to and it’s been frustrating for me.

“I’ve just been trying to work hard. It’s difficult when you’re out of the side, you obviously want to be playing.

“You have the build-up all week and then when you’re not playing on the Saturday it’s disappointing, but what can you do?

“You’ve just got to keep your head down, work as hard as you can and hopefully if you get the chance or you get to come on as a substitute then you can impress the manager.

“That’s what I’ll keep trying to do. I’ll keep working hard and see where it takes me.”

Partick Thistle jumped out of the relegation play-off position above Motherwell on goal-difference with the victory over Inverness.

Stevenson is hoping that the side can now build some momentum going into the match against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park this weekend.

“Hopefully it’s a wee turning point for us but at the end of the day if we go out and get beat on Saturday then it means nothing,” he said.

“We’ve got to try to put a run of games together and get out of the position that we’re in.

“Kilmarnock have been doing relatively well recently and they had a great result on Saturday, so it’s going to be a tough game, but if we go there and get the three points to go above them then all of a sudden you find yourself in a better position and you can get on the shirt-tails of the teams above you like Dundee as well.

“We’ve got a big four or five games coming up before Christmas, and this a game that we will be going into highly confident that we can get the victory.”

Stevenson laughed off an incident over the weekend as his teammate Steven Lawless had his phone stolen, leading to a series of expletive-laden messages being sent from his Twitter account.

He said: “I didn’t even know until I came in this morning! It’s slack on his part leaving his phone lying about and getting it taken off him.

“If it could happen to anyone it was always going to be him or maybe Banzo (Stuart Bannigan), so I’m quite happy it wasn’t me!

“It’s probably his worst nightmare given the situation and what he’s gone through, but all you can really do is take it in good jest and enjoy it as a bit of banter.”