Liam Lindsay focused on stopping goals rather than scoring them

Partick Thistle centre-back Liam Lindsay admits he has been taking some stick from his team-mates since his flurry of goals dried up - but he is much more satisfied with their run of clean sheets.

Liam Lindsay
Published 24th Feb 2017

Partick Thistle centre-back Liam Lindsay admits he has been taking some stick from his team-mates since his flurry of goals dried up - but he is much more satisfied with their run of clean sheets.

The defender scored his sixth and most recent goal of the season in a 3-1 victory over Ross County on December 23 but he has helped Thistle to six clean sheets in eight matches since then.

The Jags are looking to keep a third consecutive clean sheet when they host Hearts in the Ladbrokes Premiership on Saturday and that is the only hat-trick that Lindsay is concerned with.

The 21-year-old said: "Goals are just a wee bit of icing on the top but I would take a clean sheet over a goal any day.

"I am on a wee drought just now and I missed a bit of a sitter last Saturday.

"I'm getting a bit of stick because I have been giving it out to people so I need to take the stick, mostly from Steven Lawless. So I need to get back on the goals.

"I have six so it's not bad and I have a few games left. I have created these expectations so I need to fulfil them but the main thing is we win games and keep clean sheets."

Lindsay revealed management team Alan Archibald and Scott Paterson - two central defenders themselves - had been working hard with him and his fellow centre-backs to enforce the shut-outs.

"We have been working on it in training a lot," he said. "We do a lot of shape.

"At the start of the season we were leaking goals a wee bit. I don't know if that was just due to new partnerships and me and Danny (Devine) are quite young, but we have come through it.

"We had a change of shape and went to three at the back, so I think that's helped, and obviously clean sheets bring confidence."