Frans aims for a grand finale to Partick’s season
FREDERIC FRANS believes Partick Thistle are safe and secure in the top flight for another season after they shattered Ross County’s remarkable nine-game surge of form.
The Belgian defender scored a stunning equaliser to help turn a one-goal deficit in Dingwall into a hugely significant victory for Alan Archibald’s adventurous side.
Technically, the Jags might require one more win — with bottom club St Mirren the visitors this Saturday — but Frans was only looking upwards towards the eminently catchable Hamilton Accies in seventh spot.
For all that was at stake, this proved a flat and surprisingly stodgy display by County despite Michael Gardyne’s promising opener after 21 minutes.
Frans, somewhat in nosebleed territory as he bounded i nto considerable space and caught his low shot sweetly and with venom, levelled five minutes later.
From that moment on, Thistle always looked the likelier side to win as the hosts toiled to rekindle their recent effective form.
In the end, however, it took a glaring error from County keeper Mark Brown to separate the teams after he failed to block Stephen O’Donnell’s tight-angled dig from the right of the box.
Jim McIntyre’s men could have moved to within 90 minutes of safety themselves had they triumphed, but they now go to Motherwell this weekend with a six-point advantage over a Fir Park side locked in the play-off berth.
I f Frans is correct, t hose anxieties are history for Partick. The former Belgium Under-20 i nternational said: ‘ With four games to play, we’re 10 points ahead, so i t would be really terrible if we now slipped back into that play-off spot.
‘I think we’ll be fine now — we can look upwards. We will go for victories in the remainder of the season and our goal i s to be unbeaten in the split matches.’
As for his memorable finish, a strike that seemed to accelerate in the air as it hurtled 25 yards between Brown’s outstretched glove and the left-hand post, Frans was thrilled.
‘Most of my career, the goals I have scored have been headers from set-pieces. That’s the first one like that I’ve ever scored.
‘I saw the space and thought I’d attack it. I just thought: “Now’s the time to try it” and it was the perfect strike.
‘It was important. We deserved to get the goal back, having started the game really well and caused them a lot of problems.
‘They put a lot of balls into the box and they work on the second ball. Sometimes the ball fell well for them and we were unlucky.
‘So it was an important time to reply, quite quickly after their goal, and we totally deserved to go on and get the three points.’
Tellingly, Thistle came north with a plan to beat County at their own game.
The revived Dingwall team, under the guidance of McIntyre, have thrived on their energetic work-rate and ruthless desire to win i ndividual battles before producing the winning moments in matches.
On this occasion, Archibald’s Jags were the team who imposed themselves before picking off the hosts.
Frans stressed: ‘They have been on a great run — eight wins and a draw, which is amazing — but everyone forgets we’ve been on a great run, too.
‘We matched them in every way. Football- wise, we know we’re better but we came here with a lot of desire and confidence in ourselves to earn the result.’
County supporters have grown accustomed to victory since a win over Motherwell in mid-February ignited their season.
It seemed like another stride forward was coming as the opener came against the run of play.
The overlapping burst of Jamie Reckord was met by Rafa de Vita’s pass. Reckord shaped for a return ball to his team-mate, but instead switched direction and curled in a long cross to the back post.
Gardyne was waiting to strike home with the help of a deflection for a 21st-minute lead.
Before then, Thistle’s Ryan Stevenson had carved out three opportunities — taking none — but coming particularly close with a lashed shot just over the bar from the edge of the area.
County’s l ead never l ooked comfortable. Almost immediately, Lyle Taylor had the ball in the net but was ruled offside, before Frans produced his strike to level.
The hosts needed a reaction after the break but, within nine minutes of the restart, they were behind.
Scott Boyd’s header on a high ball bounced not to safety but to Jags right-back O’Donnell on the far right.
Though the angle was tight, his venomous drive startled keeper Brown at his f ront post and ricocheted into the net.
Although the battle was far from over, County never really looked at their best or capable of redressing the balance.
For Rocco Quinn, his return to action after almost seven months out was soured by defeat — but he insists County will recover quickly.
The former Celtic youth went under the knife for a hip problem in October and recuperation has been a lengthy process, delayed also by County’s nine - game winning run.
Saturday’s appearance from the bench might have been a personal relief but the 28-year-old’s joy was dampened by the loss.
‘It was a disappointing way to end the winning run, very much so,’ he said. ‘We’d have loved to keep it going, but I just don’t think we were at it today.
‘From the first whistle, we looked a bit leggy. We weren’t showing the same intensity of the past few weeks. Ultimately, it’s cost us.
‘It’s all about how we respond now. The boys have done fantastically well, so we just need to pick ourselves up.’
Quinn’s last match before his operation came in October’s draw with Inverness Caley Thistle.
Back then, County were bottom of the table and being written off as doomed to relegation.
So he can put Saturday’s setback in perspective, with a six-point cushion still held on Motherwell.
‘It’s all in our own hands and that’s the way we wanted it coming into the split,’ he added. ‘It was five cup finals before today and it’s four now.
‘We just need to keep going and doing what we’ve been doing and, hopefully, we will get the results.’
“I think we’ll be fine. We will go for
victories for the rest of the season.”