Archibald: Winter break will warm us up

Alan Archibald admitted the winter break couldn’t come soon enough for his weary Partick Thistle troops.

The Firhill side were propping up the Premiership table less than a fortnight ago but back-to-back wins had moved them into the top six.

However, the Jags’ hopes of seeing out the year in the top half were dashed at home to Kilmarnock yesterday as Archibald conceded their hectic December schedule had caught up with them.

The Partick boss, whose side dropped to seventh going into the three-week shutdown, said: “We looked tired in the second half.

“We have had five games in 15 days and the conditions didn’t help us. We are delighted where we are because we were bottom just over a week ago.”

Referee Kevin Clancy correctly chopped off two Kris Doolan goals after his assistants’ flags went up and Archibald added: “I thought the first one was definitely offside.

“I thought the second one was on line but some you get and some you don’t. It is very close to be fair. We started the game well. We had a goal chopped off and had a lot of the play in their half. We didn’t work the goalkeeper hard enough.

“To be fair to Kilmarnock they defended really well.

“But we should have been more penetrative in the final third.

“They probably had the better chances in the second half.”