YOU would be hard-pushed to find anyone around Firhill with a bad word to say about Partick Thistle hero Kris Doolan, whose double on Saturday not only overturned Craig Curran’s opener for Ross County, but took him over the 100-goal mark for the club.

So it was of little surprise to hear teammate and friend Stevie Lawless being effusive in his praise of the striker after a win that moves them four points clear of Kilmarnock in that all-important sixth place in the table.

Doolan becomes the first player to reach a century of goals for the club since Davie McParland achieved the feat in the 1960s, and there is no doubt in Lawless’s mind that Doolan has now joined the pantheon of Partick Thistle greats.

Since being given his break in senior football at Firhill after signing from Auchinleck Talbot back in 2009, the unassuming Ayrshireman has paid back their faith in spades. 101 times over now, in fact.

“He produced two great finishes and got us the three points,” Lawless said. “It was not a pretty game to watch, but he had the quality to get us the three points. "They were two great finishes. The second one is a brilliant goal for us. It helps that he has managed to save those two for an occasion like this and I am happy for him and the boys.

“Not many forwards in the game score 100 goals, especially for the same club. It is a great achievement.

“He knows his game. He is not going to chase into the channels. It is all about getting good supply into his feet. He has been in double figures every season I have been here and that is a great return. We would be pushing a little bit higher if we spread the goals throughout the team, though.”

The fact that Doolan continues to shoulder the majority of the goalscoring burden in a side that is hardly renowned for creating bucketloads of chances makes his feat all the more impressive.

This game was a case in point, as he produced two clinical moments that dragged his team off the canvas after being knocked out of their stride by a physical, high-pressing County side.

When the visitors broke the deadlock just before the hour it was no more than they deserved, with a forceful run from Martin Woods down the right seeing the ball end up at Liam Boyce in the area, who knocked it back into the path of the arriving Curran to blast past Tomas Cerny.

They had earlier been denied what looked to be a very decent shout for a penalty as Liam Lindsay tugged back Alex Schalk in the area, and Thistle’s path back into the match looked less that obvious.

But that man Doolan hauled them into proceedings when a trademark deft first touch spun him away from the County defence and allowed him a yard to finish past former teammate Scott Fox in the visitors’ goal.

He lifted his shirt to reveal a t-shirt emblazoned with the message ‘100 goals and counting’, and he wasted no time in making those prophetic words ring true.

Goal number 101 arrived to wrap up the points with a little over 10 minutes remaining, as Doolan sauntered onto a one-two with Adam Barton to poke the ball home as Jim McIntyre’s defenders took on the role of spectators.

Firhill was now in party mode apart from among the small pocket of County fans in the Colin Weir Stand who had made the long journey down from Dingwall, and within the visitors’ dugout, where McIntyre was apoplectic at the collapse he was witnessing from his men.

There was no doubting their endeavour, with the County manager pointing out after the game that all of their key stats are pretty much where they were during their drastically more successful campaign last season.

What can’t be accounted for though are the mental lapses that are costing them dear, with McIntyre pointing to a lack of ruthlessness at both ends of the pitch to explain why they now find themselves in a relegation dogfight.

“That was our last chance to go three points behind Thistle but you have to credit Partick,” McIntyre said. “They deserve the top six if they get it.

“I think that’s two defeats in eleven for them and that’s the consistency we showed last year. We congratulate them.

“I can’t ask for any more in terms of efforts, we have a very good group that way. Where we fall down is the last bit and switching off at key moments.”

With the result leaving his side just three points ahead of bottom-club Inverness, McIntyre has called for a show of character in tomorrow night’s crucial home encounter with Dundee. At least he can take solace in the fact that his men aren’t limping into the fixture on the back of a seven-goal thumping, as their opponents are.

“Dundee have taken a real sore one,” he said. “They will look at a lot of things they can do better and will be looking to put that right on Tuesday night.

“They will be facing exactly the same from us—a team desperate to put it right and make sure we don’t get dragged in. Every team from seventh down is in a dogfight now and it’s about making sure we’re the best of the rest. We have to show real character.”