Partick Thistle are stuck in a desperate goal drought and as more time passes without the ball hitting the back of the net the more the pressure will build. However, if they are looking for inspiration as to how such a dismal run of form can be turned around then they need look no further than Saturday’s opponents, Ross County.

Twelve months ago the Dingwall side were rock bottom of the Scottish Premiership table having lost seven consecutive matches. They remained adrift at the bottom until a stunning run of victories from February through to April saw them climb up the table and go on to avoid the bottom two places with a bit to spare.

Steven Lawless acknowledges that County, who now sit fourth in the table having already surpassed the points tally that they found themselves on in January of last season, are a blazing example of how a slump can be reversed, but he is hoping that Partick will be able to turn their fortunes around long before the first drops of snow fall from the sky.

“There is plenty of time left,” said the 24-year-old midfielder. “I think they [County] left it a lot later than we are planning to.

“It was about January-February that they started to turn it around so hopefully we don’t leave it that late. We want to start picking up points and that starts next week.”

Lawless and his teammates are finding out the hard way that games of football can be won or lost in an instance. There was very little to separate Partick Thistle and Ross County on Saturday and in games of that nature the first goal is always going to be hugely important.

One breakdown in the Jags defence allowed a completely unmarked Liam Boyce to steer home a 17th minute header. At the other end Sean Welsh did everything right as he raced on to a defence-splitting pass from Stuart Bannigan but former Thistle keeper Scott Fox rubbed salt into the wound of his departure from the club by producing a fine save at full stretch.

Thistle could be forgiven for feeling that they are not getting their fair share of luck as they piled pressure on the County defence in the closing stages and the ball just would not fall kindly for them, but Lawless insists there is no time for self-pity and that the only way to turn things around is to work even harder than before.

“It seems to always be the same story recently, he said. “We will need to get in on Monday and work hard. We need to try and fix it because it’s obviously not happening for us.

“We can’t keep using the same excuses. We’re not doing enough to get a win just now.

“We were quite slack at the back for the goal, but it is a whole team effort. We are not doing the job up front and the defence didn’t do it for that two seconds.

“It’s just one of those things. We need to work hard and pull together to try and get out of this slump because it is going to be a long season otherwise.”

It is telling that Ross County, who for long periods of last season could not see where their next win would come from, are now able to grind out a result when they are far from their best. After dropping two points in the dying seconds away to Motherwell last week, Chris Robertson was delighted that he and his fellow defenders were able to hold out a one goal lead this time around against a side desperate to salvage a point.

“It was tough,” said the former Preston and Port Vale defender. Partick are down the bottom of the table and they wanted the points just as much as we did so we had to earn them today.

“If you are going to win football games you have got to keep clean sheets. It makes it a lot easier if you score more than one, but if you need to hold out a 1-0 win then we have shown that we can do it and hopefully we can carry that on.”

Saturday’s victory took County six points clear of seventh placed St Johnstone and there is a growing perception that they can not only push for the top six but perhaps challenge for a European spot, but Robertson insisted that manager Jim McIntyre is not allowing them to look any further than the next match.

“We’ve just got to keep doing what we are doing,” said Robertson. “We concentrate on the next game now and the gaffer is keeping us grounded.

“He keeps focusing on that next game and next up for us is a big cup game so it is a little break from the league. We are hoping to start a cup run and keep that going.”