Christmas night out cancelled as Partick Thistle focus on survival
Kris Doolan says Christmas is cancelled for Partick Thistle this year after the Firhill squad axed their festive night out to re-focus on beating the drop.
Alan Archibald's men find themselves four points adrift at the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership after Saturday's 5-1 hammering by Kilmarnock.
The Jags boss admits he saw the first cracks in his side's confidence this term during that painful Rugby Park drubbing.
A spot of team bonding would be the answer for many when the chips are down but striker Doolan reckons the Maryhill side are right to bin their night out and instead knuckle down on the training pitch.
"The manager was right about Saturday,'' said the 31-year-old. "When that third goal went in, there was an acceptance of the result and it became a bit easier for Killie to score again.
"It is difficult to make sure the heads don't go down because we are quite a young team. Some people are affected by the negativity and looking at the league table, which isn't great.
"But you still have to have characters in the changing room, guys who can put a smile on your face, because you play better when you're enjoying yourself and relaxed.
"That enjoyment has to go hand in hand with the hard work, though, so right now we have got the bit between our teeth and we're knuckling down.
"There won't be nights out. That just won't happen. It's all about business for us. At this stage of the season, the way things are (Christmas nights out) just won't be an option.
"Our position dictates it's all about hard work and that's what's going to happen from here on in.''
Thistle will hope to pick up their first win in over a month when they host Motherwell on Tuesday night.
Their current position is similar to the one they found themselves in at this stage last term.
Having been bottom of the table on Christmas day, they managed to claw themselves up to their highest league finish in 36 years.
But Doolan says it is time Jags forget about last season's top-six heroics and face up to the fact they are now in a fight for survival.
He said: "Something has to happen soon. It's fine saying we were here last season and still made the top six.
"But we're now getting to the stage where something has to change. We can't just keep talking about last season week in, week out.
"We need points on the board as we're now adrift.
"The good thing from our point of view is that one win could put us back in amongst it but it has to happen soon.
"Right now, survival has to be our sole aim. Again we can talk about what we did last season but last season is gone. We can only think about getting ourselves back into the mix, then we can take it from there.'