PARTICK Thistle defender Paul McGinn admits that his side are already in a dogfight, and will be until they pull themselves clear from the bottom of the table, writes Gareme McGarry.

Thistle have encountered tough fixtures to date, and have failed to record a win in their eight league games so far, but a kinder run – at least on paper – now lies ahead of them.

That starts with Saturday’s home game against the only side below them in the table, Kilmarnock, and McGinn says that getting a result by hook or by crook must take precedence over performance.

“We all realise that this period is massive now,” said McGinn. “I suppose if we had turned a few of those draws into wins it wouldn’t be as big, but you can’t deny that until you get those points on the board you’re in a dogfight, and that’s the way you’ve got to approach it.

“If you think anything else, you are just being naïve. Once we get the points on the board then we can start looking up the way.

“Any team that finds themselves down the bottom, that’s the way they’ve got to approach it, and right now winning counts more than the performance.

“I’m sure everyone at the club would take a horrible performance to get a win.”