ARCHIBALD URGES THISTLE TO BEWARE BOYD
PARTICK THISTLE manager Alan Archibald knows that one man doesn’t make a team but no player has had a greater influence on his club’s fortunes this season than Kilmarnock striker Kris Boyd. He has netted almost half of the goals scored by Killie’s players in the Premiership this season and that haul has been invaluable for Allan Johnston’s men. Take those goals away from Killie and they would be 13 points worse off, stranded in the relegation play-off spot 11 points behind St Mirren with just five games remaining. But as it is, Partick sit second bottom and so it’s hardly surprising that Archibald has identified Boyd as Public Enemy No 1 for the clubs scrapping for survival. ‘Kris is always a threat,’ he said. ‘He’s got to be up there for the Player of the Year award. A lot of players will have voted for him because they’ll have noticed how hard he’s worked on his game since he’s come back to Killie. ‘They can see he’s changed his game and he’s no longer just a goal poacher. ‘Without his goals, it’s possible Kilmarnock could have been gone by now — that shows how important he is to them.’ Archibald accepts the tension has never been greater, with Hibernian, St Mirren and Ross County also desperately attempting to avoid ending up in 11th place. He accepts, though, that the play-off factor has injected excitement which would otherwise have been absent from the final run-in. ‘We have five crucial games left,’ he said. ‘We said after the Hearts defeat two weeks ago that this is like the start of a new season. ‘That’s the way we’ve got to approach it. Something has to give in every single game in the bottom six and I think we need to take something from each of the five fixtures. ‘I don’t think the post-split games have ever been as interesting as these ones. When was the last time it went right down to the wire with five clubs involved? ‘Our boys need to draw on the experience of the run-in last season, when they had to win every game to come up. ‘They showed character in abundance last year and it’s exactly the same thing at stake now — the chance to play in the top flight.’