MARTIN Woods knows exactly the agony and frustration that Partick Thistle supporters felt as Hamilton’s David Templeton struck an injury-time winner against them last Saturday after walking a mile in their shoes.

The midfielder was suffering from flu and had to pull out of the match, leaving him listening into the action from home just as anxiously as any Thistle fan who didn’t make the trip to Lanarkshire.

And he could hardly believe his ears as he heard the ball hit the back of the Jags’ net, causing him to momentarily lose his cool and almost cost himself a small fortune in phone repairs.

“I was sitting in the house listening to Jagzone [the club's audio commentary service], and I nearly threw my phone off the wall at the end,” Woods said.

“It was so frustrating. We’ve lost the last couple of games now in similar circumstances and it just ruins your weekend, so I want to get that winning feeling back and I’m sure the rest of the boys do too.

“We’ve conceded a couple of bad goals late on recently which is not ideal, but if we can eradicate them then hopefully we’ll start to get the results.”

Cutting out those late lapses may be critical to Thistle’s hopes of staying in the division, but no matter the personnel, it seems that it is an old habit that the Jags just can’t shake.

“I had no idea that was the case, but the more people you listen to or speak to then they say it is just a Partick Thistle thing for that to happen at the end,” said Woods.

“It’s disappointing and you’ve obviously got to concentrate for the 90 minutes. We’ve not managed to do that in the last couple of games.

“Conceding two in the last five minutes to Dundee is really poor, and if we can get out of Hamilton with a draw then you can build on it and keep them in and around us.

“It’s really frustrating that we’ve allowed them to get above us, but we’ve got another chance to put that right on Saturday against another team who is down there with us.

“We’ve got to go and get the win now.”

One of the most galling things for Woods over Thistle’s current predicament is that their destiny isn’t entirely in their own hands, but he says that the Jags have to ensure that they take advantage of any slip ups from the teams above them.

“I think you can see that Hamilton’s games in hand won’t be easy, so hopefully other teams can do us a favour,” he said.

“That’s another disappointing thing about the last couple of games, it was all in our hands if we had gotten a couple of results and we would have pulled clear up the table, but we’ve given ourselves a real scrap.

“It’s one that I’m up for and I know that the boys are up for, so hopefully we can win on Saturday and get the ball rolling.”

There is no one better placed than Woods to assess the challenge that lies ahead of Thistle against his former team on Saturday, and through talking to some of his former teammates, he knows that they are hurting from an insipid defeat against St Johnstone last time out.

“I’ve got a few mates up there and they said that they were really poor at the weekend,” he said.

“The previous week against Dundee, I think it was one of the best performances they’ve had since Owen Coyle went in, and then on Saturday there it was one of the worst.

“So, it depends on what Ross County turn up, but we’re on the road and we will have to be at our best anyway if we want to get a result.

“They’ve got some good players, and so do we, so it’s who turns up on the day now and who has the bottle.”