‘WE HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO REPLACE DOOLAN’

CHRIS ERSKINE has told his Partick Thistle team-mates they cannot wait for the club to land a new striker before finding their shooting boots. The Jags lost Kris Doolan to a hamstring injury after half an hour at Easter Road, with manager Alan Archibald later assuring the travelling throng the recruitment of a back-up striker is now a top priority. But Erskine, the scorer of an early opening goal in Leith, feels the club have been too reliant on their talismanic frontman and believes it should not take the sight of him exiting prematurely for others to feel compelled to step up. ‘Losing him early made it hard to get back into the game,’ Erskine said. ‘He’s a massive part of the team with his link-up play and his goals. ‘We’re hoping his injury won’t be too serious and he’ll be fit again soon. ‘In the meantime others have got to step up. We talk about this every year — everyone else chipping in with goals. ‘We are definitely short in that department so, hopefully, the manager can bring someone else in but we all need to chip in with goals regardless.’ Thistle were already losing their grip on the contest before the stricken Doolan departed the scene on the half-hour mark. Erskine admits all attempts at identifying precisely why a side that began so confidently lost their way were futile. He said: ‘We got the goal we deserved but after that it was as if someone had flicked a switch. ‘We were trying to put our finger on it in the dressing room but never really got round to it. ‘We played a bit better in the second half. We had a good spell, might have had a penalty but overall it was massively disappointing. ‘We did the hard part. Their first goal had a bit of luck as it took a big deflection into Martin Boyle’s path. ‘After that we began misplacing passes and it spread right through the team. Every chance came from us losing the ball. ‘When we lost the penalty it goes to 3-1. That was a massive boost for them and made it hard for us to get back in it. ‘We all know we’ve got a hard start. That’s what is hard to take. ‘We felt we could come here and win. That was the plan.’