Partick Thistle aim to pounce if Motherwell suffer late jitters

Partick Thistle boss Alan Archibald is hoping to capitalise if Motherwell's recent record of conceding late goals leads to nervousness in the Fir Park ranks on Saturday.

Since the turn of the year the Steelmen have conceded six last-gasp goals, five of which have changed the outcome of the match, including a goal in stoppage time which gave the Jags a 1-0 Premiership win earlier in the month at Firhill and a stoppage-time goal at St Johnstone last week which turned a draw into a defeat.

In his pre-match press conference, Motherwell boss Mark McGhee said: "We've not really worried about that until maybe now. I'd like to put a flashing red light on top of the goalmouth and at 10 minutes to go switch it on and everybody hear a siren and know that this is emergency time.''

An empathetic Archibald recognised the Fir Park frustration but will look to take advantage of any late uncertainty in the Well defence.

He said: "I have been there. Motherwell did it to us a couple of times. In our first season up we went through maybe eight or nine games like that as well.

"It doesn't matter what you do as a coach, something just happens and they end up slipping deeper. The more cautious you are about it, the deeper you get and you maybe lose a goal.

"If it is something we can use towards the game, hopefully we can. But I have been in that position and I don't envy them.''

Thistle, sitting in eighth place on the back of a 2-0 home win over St Johnstone on Tuesday night, have the tightest defence away from home in the league having lost only 11 goals on their travels, although they have played up to three fewer games than some of the other sides.

That statistic gives Archibald confidence as he looks at three away games on the bounce.

The trip to St Johnstone in midweek comes before they face third-placed Hearts at Tynecastle next week.

The former Thistle defender, however, is also aware that his side are the lowest scorers in the league with 24 goals in 24 games.

He said: "We are trying to get that balance right. Last season we had a good goal-scoring record, it was one of the best in the bottom six.

"But it has gone the other way. We know we need to improve. We are probably the worst scorers in the league.

"That is why we brought a couple of players in at the end of the window, Antonio German and Aidan Nesbitt, to try and boost what we have already got because we need goals, we need goals to stay up in this league.

"We can't always rely on the back four keeping clean sheets.''