PARTICK Thistle manager Alan Archibald credited his players and directors for transforming their season after booking their place in the Ladbrokes Premiership top six.

The Firhill side moved seven points above Kilmarnock with one game left before the split with a 1-0 home victory over Motherwell.

Kris Doolan slotted home in the 11th minute and Tomas Cerny, who missed three months with injury, kept his 11th clean sheet of the season thanks to a brilliant stop from a Zak Jules header.

Thistle won one of their first nine and were bottom three days before Christmas, but they have suffered only two league defeats since.

Archibald said: “All the credit goes to [the players] because sometimes it’s easy to get stuck in the mire and they didn’t. The board have been fantastic. If there’s money there then they will give us it to spend. They probably helped us turn our season around because, other than Celtic and Aberdeen, we were the only team to go away during the winter break.”