Alan Archibald praises returning Stuart Bannigan
Partick Thistle boss Alan Archibald hailed Stuart Bannigan after the midfielder finally emerged from his 15-month injury nightmare.
The former Scotland Under-21 cap suffered a serious knee injury back in March 2015.
But he made an impressive return to action against Livingston on Saturday as the Jags opened their Betfred Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against the Ladbrokes League One Champions.
Archibald was disappointed to see his team miss out on a bonus point at the Tony Macaroni Arena, with Bannigan the only Thistle player out of four to find the net during the penalty shoot-out.
But he was delighted to see the 24-year-old make his comeback.
He said: ''Stuart Bannigan was fantastic in his first game for 15 months. It was a great test for him and Championship teams don't mess about.
You saw the 50:50, or maybe 40:60, tackle that he rode and that game will stand him in good stead for the season.''
But Archibald admits the rest of his team need to step up their performances after allowing Livi hit back with a Keaghan Jacobs equaliser early in the second half after Chris Erskine had put the Premiership men ahead quarter of an hour in.
''It was about fitness for Stuart but for the rest it's about winning games,'' said the Firhill boss.
''These games are not about getting the fitness levels up as we need to win the games. It was the same last year as well. You have to win the games as it's so tight.
Our group is going to be tough. We don't want to get knocked out of this competition as we want to win games.'