With his side down to 10 men and hanging on in the face of Rangers pressure, and with his team’s propensity to lose late goals – at home to Rangers especially – Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald was probably fearing the worst.

But he was delighted at the way his men stood up to the late onslaught from the visitors to claim a hard-fought point, and he hopes it can be the result that kick-starts their season.

The Jags are still without a win so far this campaign, but a resolute showing from his side has Archibald believing that better times are ahead for Thistle.

“We have lost a few late goals recently,” said Archibald. “That’s great for the lads, it gives them a bit more confidence and belief - especially with ten men.

“I thought we defended our box really well. That’s why we left the three centre-backs on, to go and deal with that threat and I felt they did so.

“We hope (that kick-starts our season). We’ve had a tough run but should still have taken more points. “We asked the lads to build on the point we got at Ross County and they’ve done that. They showed good character to come back from 1-0 down.

“Hopefully the confidence comes back. We just need to take care of the ball a lot better than we did tonight.”

Archibald admits he felt as if all of Thistle’s good work to come back from a goal down to turn the game on its head had gone out of the window with Chris Erskine’s sending off for a lunge on Alfredo Morelos.

The forward’s dismissal upset his gameplan rather, but he was proud of the way his players adapted to the situation, even if he wasn’t best pleased with their use of the ball.

“We were about to make a change ourselves and then Chris Erskine goes and gets sent off,” he said.

“It was a red card. I’ve no complaints. He hasn’t got a bad bone in his body - he can’t tackle, he’s never been able to tackle.

“It came from taking too many touches. That was a bad habit right through our team tonight - the amount of times we gave the ball away, the turnover in possession.

“A lot of Rangers’ chances and breaks came from that, especially in the first half.

“To be fair to the lads, we should maybe have changed it a bit earlier. But it took a quality goal to make it 2-2. I didn’t think they worked our goalie too much. But if you let Dorrans step in and have time, he has the quality to hurt you.”

While acknowledging his own side’s defensive frailties in allowing Dorrans so much space to slam home the equaliser, Archibald wasn’t surprised that a poor refereeing decision went against his team in the build-up to the goal.

Referee Willie Collum awarded the visitors a throw-in when the ball clearly came off a Rangers foot, and the visitors worked the ball well across the pitch for Graham Dorrans to thump home.

And while Archibald wasn’t too enamoured with his own side’s defending, he was less than impressed that such a poor call went against them.

“I was made aware of that,” he said. “I’ve not seen it, there was a lot going on at the time. I’m not surprised we didn’t get it but we have to defend it better after that.”