Whatever the ups and downs of Partick Thistle’s fortunes over the last few seasons, they have usually received fulsome praise for their style of play.
Their easy-on-the-eye approach to pass and move football is always pleasing to the purists, but sometimes it hasn’t yielded the points return they may have felt it deserved.
Now, Thistle defender Dan Seaborne believes that the Firhill side have the grit to match their guile, as typified in their recent wins over Dundee United and St Johnstone.
“Getting two wins in a row took us quite a long time to do last year, so it’s good for the lads and obviously we’ve got a massive game on Saturday now to try to keep this run going,” he said.
“The two performances probably couldn’t have been any more different. Dundee United and St Johnstone have two different ways of playing, so it’s good for the manager and the lads to show that we can adapt to that.
“I think we do slightly better against teams that try to come out and play. Dundee United tried to come out and go toe to toe with us in terms of playing football, whereas St Johnstone tried to mix it with us a little bit more so we went a bit more direct as well.
“We had two different game-plans going into the games and they’ve both paid off, so it’s credit to the manager and credit to the players that we’ve been able to carry that out.
“The second-half against St Johnstone was a bit of a backs-to-the-wall performance but it’s good for us to show that side of our game.
“Last year maybe we could have crumbled maybe and given into the pressure at that point, so it was good to be able to show our character.”
Liam Lindsay, Seaborne’s central-defensive partner on Saturday, may be tender in years, but he showed a steely determination alongside the big Englishman during St Johnstone’s second-half fightback.
Seaborne says that the precocious defender has the attributes to go a long way in the game, but has warned him not to let his standards slip.
“Liam’s got a bright future as long as he keeps working hard and listening to the right people,” he said.
“He’s a big, strong lad and he listens really, really well on a Saturday. I can’t give him enough credit really.
“He’s done really well, and as long as he keeps his head down and keeps working hard then I’ll have no complaints. Hopefully I’ll be singing his praises all the way to the end of the season.
“I’ve always felt that if I can help anyone in the game I’ll always try to pass on my knowledge or if anyone has any questions then I’ll always try to help them out.
“He doesn’t ask a lot of questions though, he’s quite quiet! But he does come to you from time to time and asks for little pointers. He’s a great lad and he’s got a great future ahead of him if he keeps doing what he’s doing.
“Obviously we would have loved to have got a clean sheet, and I think our overall play in the first-half merited a clean-sheet.
“It was disappointing to lose the goal so early in the second-half. The lads have got really high standards and the manager was a defender himself.
“A clean sheet is the base from where we try to build, so personally it’s disappointing not to get that, but it’s a win at the end of the day and hopefully we can go into that next game, get that clean sheet and hopefully get a result from there.”
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