PARTICK Thistle's assistant manager Scott Paterson has praised under-fire boss Alan Archibald after they recorded their first Ladbrokes Premiership win of the season.
The Firhill side came from a goal down to beat Dundee at the Energy Check Stadium thanks to a last-gasp winner from Miles Storey.
After last week's defeat to relegation rivals Kilmarnock, questions started being asked of Thistle's management team, with Archibald taking the brunt of the criticism.
However, Saturday's victory means the side are now level on points with Kilmarnock and have closed the gap on Hamilton to just a point.
"Listen, we're all in it together," said Paterson. "One thing I will say about Archie is he's a strong character.
"I've been lucky enough to work with him and play with him, so I know him. We're good friends as well so I'm delighted for him and so are the players.
"The players have so much respect for him and they are just as disappointed when we don't win games or don't play well because they all want to do well for him."
Archibald's changes during the match paid dividends, with Kris Doolan having a hand in both goals and Storey snatching the winner at the death.
And Paterson believes this is tribute to the squad he and Archibald have built at Firhill.
"I think it's the first time in a while we have had a really strong bench," he said. "We've had a few injuries kicking about but they played their part and it's massive you have a squad who can do that.
"We're delighted for Miles [Storey] to come on and score his goal as well. He's someone we've wanted for a couple of seasons and we're just delighted for him."
Dundee manager Neil McCann rued his side's wastefulness in front of goal. The visitors missed a host of chances - including a penalty - and were punished by Thistle.
"We've got a chance to bury a team with the penalty and we've got a designated penalty-taker [Sofien Moussa] and for some reason we decided to change that," said McCann.
"We miss the penalty and at half-time it's not such a big story but it's a big story now because that buries Partick Thistle in my opinion.
"We played some beautiful stuff and it's very attractive to watch, but without a gloss and shine on your play it just looks nice on the stats and nice on the eye because it gets you nothing."
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