WITHOUT doubt this comprehensive 3-0 victory over First Division leaders Hamilton marks the high point of Partick Thistle's season.

WITHOUT doubt this comprehensive 3-0 victory over First Division leaders Hamilton marks the high point of Partick Thistle's season.

Having shipped five goals - and scored none - in the previous two meetings with Accies, Ian McCall's men could have been forgiven for approaching this fixture with some trepidation.

Yet the quality of football the Jags played on a surface that resembled a lunar landscape was at times out of this world.

They destroyed the First Division's most resilient rearguard in a game Accies were desperate to win to arrest a form slump. And the win has also supplied a huge confidence boost ahead of tomorrow night's rescheduled Scottish Cup fourth round tie with Dunfermline.

And the display gave the home support the most significant proof yet that McCall is moulding together a team that will make a real title challenge next time around.

The Firhill boss today said: "We believe we are going in the right direction. This performance showed what we are capable off, we just need to deliver it consistently.

"It was a great result but no better than the last five or six performances, except for the Clyde game.

"It was just that we took our chances this time. It could easily have been five or six."

There was no sign of the goal glut to come when Accies were first to threaten after seven minutes.Top scorer Richard Offiong pounced on a loose ball at the edge of the Jags' box, but lashed narrowly over.

Thistle soon responded with a free-flowing move involving Scot Chaplain, Liam Buchanan which ended with Mark Roberts strike deflected for a corner.

A minute later the Jags were denied a stonewall penalty when Gary Harkins was chopped inside the Accies' box by Tom Parratt, but somehow referee Iain Brines declined to award a penalty when ideally placed.

Then with 23 minutes on the clock Thistle took a deserved lead. Firhill hotshot Liam Buchanan was initially denied by dogged Accies' defending.

But the ball broke to Kevin McKinlay and the Jags' midfielder took a touch before smashing home past the diving Bryn Halliwell to end a 203- minute barren spell against Accies.

And in 34 minutes Thistle underlined their growing superiority when Buchanan's superb cross was headed home by the soaring McKinlay for a deserved second.

But Thistle's champagne spell continued and six minutes before the break a 25-yard David Rowson piledriver sliced a couple of yards over with Halliwell beaten.

More was to come and Harkins curled a superb 20-yarder off the bar right on the stroke of half-time.

Ten minutes after the break a superb low ball by McKinlay from the left flank picked out Harkins and after some neat footwork in the Accies box the Jags midfielder was crudely chopped by Simon Mensing and at last referee Brines awarded a penalty.

From the spot Buchanan sent Halliwell the wrong way and the game was over.

Accies boss Billy Reid was brutally honest in his assessment. He said: "We can't have too many performances like that. But teams have form blips and it has happened to better sides than Hamilton Accies. But it is how we react to this that matters. Thistle fully merited their win."

Partick Thistle: Tuffey, Robertson, Twaddle, McKinlay (Donnelly, 88) Storey, Archibald, Chaplain, Rowson, Buchanan (Murray, 68), Roberts, Harkins (McKeown, 78). Subs not used: Hinchcliffe, Keegan.

Hamilton Accies: Halliwell, Parratt (Gilaney,60), Easton, McCarthy, Elebert, McLaughlin, Mensing, McArthur, Offiong, Neil (Twigg, 38), Graham (Winters, 68).

Subs not used: Gibson, Cerny.

Ref: I Brines. Att: 2409.

Need to know

Was it a good game? Easily Thistle's best performance of the season, played on a potato field, against the league leaders in a game Accies badly needed to win.

And the Jags' main man? From a cast of thousands, Kevin McKinlay's two-goal burst, numerous assists and all-round hunger pips Harkins, Chaplain and Archibald.

Accies' Saturday best? At times Brian Easton resembled a ginger Beckenbauer with some of his self-assured building from the back.

And the referee? Apart from missing an early penalty of the cast-iron nature, Mr Brines had a decent afternoon out.

Who is up next? Tomorrow night's rescheduled Firhill Scottish Cup fourth-round clash with Dunfermline.

Talking point

Can Thistle dish out a Scottish Cup KO to Dunfermline at Firhill tomorrow night.