Caldwell swears by an escape to the Canaries for Jags

GARY CALDWELL is taking a leaf out of the relegation rescue scripts of his former Wigan manager Roberto Martinez this week in an attempt help Partick Thistle escape the drop.

Thistle will be based in Tenerife for the next few days for warm-weather training and team bonding to brace themselves for the seven-match stretch that will determine their fate.

Caldwell firmly believes the spells in the sunshine were crucial, under Martinez, to the acts of escapology undertaken in the spring months to spare Wigan from relegation.

Three times Wigan stayed in the top flight with lateseason rallies, including a remarkable recovery in 2012 that featured victories over Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Even when finally succumbing to the Championship in May 2013, Martinez secured a stunning FA Cup Final win over Manchester City on the way down.

Caldwell has never been shy about utilising ideas learned under the current Belgium head coach when they were a close manager and captain partnership at the DW Stadium.

So, in his third manager’s job following Wigan and Chesterfield, Caldwell has taken his toiling Partick squad to a camp he knows well in the Canary Islands to plot their way out of trouble.

‘It is something I did at Wigan many times when we were in similar situations,’ explained the former Scotland defender (below).

‘It is a time when pitches are pretty heavy here and training facilities can be not the standard you want.

‘The opportunity to go away was there — the club have been fantastic allowing it to happen — and getting some good training in will hopefully give us the boost we need. ‘With Wigan, we felt it was massive to get away at this time. It’s difficult when you are fighting near the bottom of the table. You welcome a change of environment. ‘When I played we always went in February/ March time under Roberto and it was always influential in our bids to stay in the league. ‘Roberto believed it was important to spend as much time as possible together. He enjoyed the time spent together. ‘I feel it’s important to use that as much as you can. I’ve been before so I know the training facilities and the environment we’re going to be in.’

Partick took Hearts to a replay in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals but remain planted in the play-off berth following Friday night’s 2-1 home defeat to surging Inverness Caley Thistle.

They looked like matching the 30-point totals of Falkirk and Queen of the South when Stuart Bannigan’s first goal since 2015 cancelled out Aaron Doran’s opener in a lively second half.

However, the draw was denied to them by a spectacular volley from substitute Tom Walsh nine minutes from time.

Alloa remain three points adrift in bottom spot after yesterday 2-1 defeat at Dundee United, with Thistle currently occupying the sole play-off spot at the foot of the division.

But the Jags, relegated from the top flight last season via the play-offs, will hope to drag Morton back into the picture next Saturday on the back of their Tenerife trip.

‘We have to keep working on so many different things,’ said Caldwell.

‘You need to find an edge in this fight as you know it is going to be tight.

‘We’ve known for a long time it’s going to go down right to the wire.

‘We have to find the little details that we can improve upon and grab that for the rest of the season.’