When Stuart Bannigan looks back on his Partick Thistle career so far, it’s hard for him to fathom just how far both he and the club have progressed since he signed on at Firhill as a fresh-faced YTS in 2009.

Bannigan clocked up his 150th appearance for his club in Saturday’s draw with Hamilton, and in that time he has cemented himself as a first-pick in Alan Archibald’s midfield, lifted a First Division title and the honour of representing Scotland at under-21 level.

The club, for its part, is now establishing itself in the Premiership, and they have overhauled their approach to areas like youth development to give themselves the best possible chance of continuing their upwards trajectory.

“It’s hard to believe I’ve got to 150 appearances, especially as I’m only 23, but that’s down to the manager for picking me,” he said.

“You never really think you’re going to get that far, especially when you’re starting as a YTS and you can’t really see yourself getting a run of games at all. The competition is so fierce and you’re so young, so to do that is quite a big achievement considering my age.

“All in all it’s just been a great time that I’ve had, it’s a great club to be at.

“I’ve really enjoyed playing with all the boys here, they’re all my mates and all the managers I’ve had as well have really taken to me.

“Ian McCall really liked what I was about as a young boy, then Jackie McNamara was fantastic with me and gave me a platform to go and play.

“The gaffer now has made me a real mainstay in the team and kept me in there week in, week out, so I’m very thankful to all of them.

“The club has come on massively since I started out. I remember when I first came in as a YTS there was maybe only 5 or 6 young boys in and they didn’t really train often.

“They found it tough for them to get places to train and if they did they just trained after the first team.

“You see it now with the Thistle Weir Academy, it’s just grown massively. We’ve got a full under-20’s side, all of them are full-time and they all train, so there’s a massive difference.

“We were lingering around mid-table in the First Division and now we’ve stayed up in the top league for two seasons and we’re looking to establish ourselves there.”

Bannigan’s 150th appearance for the club didn’t exactly follow the fairytale script, with a lacklustre home side dropping a point against the ten men of Hamilton.

He believes though that the reaction of the crowd as they voiced their displeasure at full-time shows just how far the club has come.

“Expectation obviously gets higher when you start doing better, and I don’t think people accept us being down the bottom of the table where we are now,” he said.

“You understand that the fans are disappointed when you don’t win a game at home, especially when the other team are down to ten men for a full half as they were on Saturday.

“But we know ourselves that we didn’t perform. As players after a game you know when you haven’t done well.

“The fans showing their frustration is understandable, but I’d ask them just to stick with us.

“It was disappointing, especially with the manner that we won the two previous games.

“To get three in a row would have been great, but it wasn’t to be. You get bad performances throughout the course of a season. We still got a point though, and seven points from three games is not too bad.”