Dingwall road to recovery for Jags

ALAN ARCHIBALD is hoping a win in Dingwall can kickstart Partick Thistle’s campaign for the second year running.

The Jags have yet to lift a point four games into the season so need to get off the mark quickly.

And Archie is hoping lightning will strike twice as they snapped out of a seven-game winless streak by beating Ross County 3-1 on December 23 to set up a charge to the top six.

The Thistle boss said: “When we won up there last Christmas time it was a massive victory and a real turning point.

“Hopefully we can do the same this weekend.

“We desperately just want to get off the mark. The longer it goes on the more everyone goes on about it and how negative that is. One win gets us in among other teams but we have a tough run of games.

“This match is against one of our close rivals so it’s a real six-pointer.”

Thistle were beaten 3-1 on the opening day by Hibs then lost narrowly to Celtic and St Johnstone before losing a seven-goal thriller against Aberdeen.

Archibald added: “The break probably came at a bad time for us because we’re desperate to get our first league victory but it let us work on a few things.

“We know what has been wrong so we worked on that. It also enabled us to give some guys days off.

“We need to defend a lot better because County are good middle to front.

“It’s not like us because we usually struggle to score and defend well.”