Kris Doolan has insisted that Thistle are under intense pressure going to Hamilton this weekend following their defeat to Dundee last Saturday – but has maintained that the Firhill side can utilise it to their advantage.

There was a view that the three games against Dundee, Hamilton Accies and Ross County would be pivotal to Thistle’s quest to avoid being dragged into a relegation dogfight at the bottom of the table.

And having lost 2-1 last Saturday to Neil McCann’s side, Doolan made no bones about the fact that the Jags must take something from their meeting with Accies.

“I think everyone knows that you really need to take something from the teams round about you,” said the striker. “We didn’t do that last weekend and it means that we are going into the game against Hamilton knowing that we cannot come away with nothing to show from it.

“We must take something. We know that.”

Alan Archibald celebrated five years in the Thistle managerial position last Friday and Doolan, who served with him as a player, believes that his ability to remain calm and composed under pressure can rub off on the Thistle dressing room.

Thistle’s current position is not a new experience and Doolan believes that Archibald has instilled a belief within the squad that they are good enough to engineer a way out of their current position.

“The gaffer is a real calm guy by nature and I think that helps,” said Doolan. “He was like that as a player and he is like that as a manger too.

“I think that kind of attitude helps because if we are to get ourselves out of this then we need calm heads. It is important that you think clearly and don’t get overwhelmed by looking too far ahead and fearing the worst.

“Everything is still there for us. If we can pick up something from Saturday’s game then it can be the start of getting the momentum going again.

“It is a fine line between so many teams in this league. I think we deserve to be up here but that’s not enough – we need to get the points to show it now.

“The manager has the belief in us that we will do that and as players we have got to believe that we can go out and put in the performances that will get us moving up the table a bit.”

Accies’ astroturf surface has been much maligned, but Doolan has maintained that Thistle are not looking for anything to carp about.

“There is nothing to be gained from us moaning about it,” he said. “It is not ideal but we all know that. We train on astroturf so we are used to it and it doesn’t matter where we are playing, we know that the onus is on us now to get a result.

“Rather than use out energy thinking and complaining about it, we are far better applying ourselves to get a result. It helps that for many of us we have been over the course like this before.

“We know what it is like to play with pressure like this and hopefully we can help one another get through it and get to the place we want.”