It is a well-worn footballing cliché that it can be difficult to play against ten men, but it was quite the challenge during the second half at Firhill just to identify which side was in fact a man light after Hamilton's Lucas Tagliapietra had been dismissed.

Partick Thistle failed to take advantage of the defender's sending off on the stroke of half-time for a last man foul on David Amoo, despite taking the lead just past the hour through Mathias Pogba’s first goal for the club.

That should have been that, with a procession towards a third consecutive victory for the home side looking a foregone conclusion, but with Partick Thistle it is rarely that simple.

To Hamilton’s credit, they started to pin the home side back, and they were rewarded for their endeavour with a fourth goal in five games from man-of-the-match Dougie Imrie with 12 minutes remaining that earned them a deserved share of the spoils.

With just two league goals to his credit last term, Imrie himself is struggling to put his finger on why he has hit such a rich vein of form in front of goal.

“I’ve been trying to add goals to my game for a few years now,” he said.

“I don’t know what’s happened in the last month but everything has seemed to click.

“The goals have started to come but the most important thing is that we’ve been picking up results.

“I don’t set targets but the most I’ve ever scored in the top flight is five so I only need another two now to beat that. If I can do that, I’ll be happy.

“But with the opportunities we create, I should be scoring more often and it’s pleasing that the goals are starting to come.

“We showed great character to come back from that and the loss of the goal. We played for the whole of the second half with 10 men and we deserved the draw.”

The first-half was a scrappy affair with neither team in the ascendency, but Amoo was showing signs that he could get in behind the Hamilton backline as half-time approached, and deep into stoppage time at the end of the half he did so to force Tagliapietra to make an intervention.

Referee Euan Anderson ruled that it was an illegal one, and he sent the Brazilian off for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Hamilton boss Martin Canning didn’t necessarily agree with the call.

“I thought it was harsh,” he said.

“I’d like to see it back because you can sometimes be a bit biased. Once I see it again I’ll make my mind up, but my initial thought was that it was a harsh decision.”

The expected onslaught on the Hamilton goal didn’t really materialise at the start of the second half, but Thistle did hit the front just after the hour with as simple a goal as you’re likely to see.

Amoo got the ball wide on the left and cut back inside before curling a right-foot cross into the six-yard area. With the Accies defence static, Pogba sauntered onto the ball and poked home from a yard out for his first goal in the red and yellow hoops.

A home victory looked a foregone conclusion at this stage, but to Hamilton’s credit they started to pin the eleven men back, with Thistle looking unsure whether to stick or twist.

With 12 minutes remaining, the visitors got their reward with a deserved leveller.

A through-ball from Gramoz Kurtaj caught the home backline napping, and Imrie nipped in to round substitute keeper Ryan Scully, who had replaced the injured Tomas Cerny in the first-half, and slotted the ball home.

Remarkably, Grant Gillespie might have moved Hamilton ahead with a low curling effort from 20 yards that Scully had to get down to smartly.

Substitute Kris Doolan then almost snatched the three points at the death for Thistle, but his well-executed volley from the edge of the area flashed inches past Michael McGovern’s post to round off a frustrating day at the office for Alan Archibald.

He said: “It felt like two points dropped. When you go a goal in front and the opposition are down to 10 men, you should see the game out.

“It was a poor reaction from us after we scored. We seemed to sit back and I don’t know why, as opposed to keeping our shape and moving Hamilton around.

“It is a sore one to take. I don’t think we played well up to that point in the game, anyway.

“We didn’t pass the ball up until they went down to 10 men and I thought we would do it better when that happened and it would encourage us too with the man extra.

“It needed to be quicker to stretch the game against the 10 men and we didn’t.

“It was frustrating because we sat off the game at 1-0 and they pressed us, which was bitterly disappointing.”

Partick Thistle: Cerny (Scully, 31’); Dumbuya, Lindsay, Seaborne, Booth; Welsh, Bannigan; Amoo, Edwards (Muirhead, 51’), Lawless; Pogba (Doolan, 85’).

Scorers: Pogba (61’)

Booked: Welsh (6’), Muirhead (87’)

Hamilton: McGovern; Gordon, Tena, Tagliapietra, Kurakins; Gillespie; Imrie, Docherty (Canning, 62’), Longridge (D’Acol, 89’); Kurtaj; Morris (Nade, 73’).

Scorers: Imrie (78’)

Booked: Gillespie (35’), Canning (83')

Sent off: Tagliapietra (45’+4’)

Referee: Euan Anderson

Man of the match: Dougie Imrie (Hamilton)

Attendance: 3122