Alan Archibald says slow start 'killed us' as Thistle are drubbed by Hearts
Alan Archibald admitted his Partick Thistle side were well beaten by half-time as they crumbled to a 3-0 defeat against Hearts at Tynecastle.
Kyle Lafferty and Steven Naismith netted within four minutes of each other to put the hosts in a commanding position after just 21 minutes, and Hearts never let their position slip.
John Souttar added a third before the break to leave Thistle six games without a win in the league, and Archibald was left seething with his side's start, especially after they claimed a creditable 0-0 draw with Aberdeen last week.
'It was surprising because off the back of a good clean sheet and an organised performance last week, we produced that in the first 20-25 minutes,' he said. 'We were nowhere near it and the start killed us.
'The game was dead and buried at half-time.'
Hearts were dominant throughout, with Naismith and Joaquim Adao pulling the strings, and they controlled the game with Thistle never posing a significant threat at the other end.
It was evident from the early stages that the Jambos were on top, and Archibald - whose side are just three points clear of bottom side Ross County now - was disappointed with the reaction of his players.
He said: 'We knew they were going to press us, they're at home and off the back of a defeat in the derby we knew it was coming and didn't heed the warning.
'It was individual errors mixed with an overall poor display and I just thought in the first 15-20 minutes the goal was coming and we didn't address it which is bitterly disappointing.'
Hearts boss Craig Levein was left to reflect on a good all-round performance from his players, with Lafferty grabbing his 17th goal of the season and Naismith just his second in a fine all-round display.
However, it was the performance of Adao that caught the eye, with the midfielder everywhere in the first period.
The January arrival played a smart ball into Naismith, who then flicked on to Lafferty, for the opener. He then broke down the right and played in Naismith for the forward to get one of his own, and Adao's performance was singled out by his manager.
'He was really, really good,' Levein said of Adao. 'He's still not up to 100 per cent yet, he also got a couple of hefty challenges today and that was one of the reasons he came off, he was feeling his knee a little bit but I thought he was good.
'There were a lot of players, I thought Danny (Amankwaa) in his second start did enough to make me feel quite good about having him on the bench or starting.
'He showed enough to make me feel happy about that.'