Thistle head for a do or die clash with Arthurlie on Saturday in a pivotal six pointer.

All roads lead to Barrhead this Saturday for a 2pm kick-off at Dunterlie Park and the Barrfields side have hit their best form just at the right time.

Manager Sandy MacLean was fulsome in his praise of the players after Saturday's 3-0 win over Glenafton, and said: "This was another step in our aim to stay in the Super Premier League. The added bonus of winning games against the clubs in our part of the league is the we drag them into the fight to stay up. Some of our play was of Premier standard.

"I felt we had some good individual performances but it was the team work ethic that was pleasing.

"As a group I feel there is good progress and if we can pick up three points next week it suddenly becomes all to play for.

"We have a Premier League facility, Premier league players, and Premier league supporters so why shouldn't we stay up?" And in further good news, Largs look set to welcome back James Marks who has been missing for the past month since a knee operation. Sandy continued: "Once James gets some training nights under his belt this week, he will be ready for selection on Saturday. We don't know yet if we are going to be appealing Euan Lindsay's red card- a lot will depend on that in terms of selection this Saturday. There was no contact on Euan's part and we will have to see the referee's report before making a decision.

"We can't afford to lose on Saturday, and we want to go and win it. It is a massive game for us and I believe we can go and win up there. We are playing well and scoring goals, and it doesn't phase us. If we don't take something on Saturday, it will take something extraordinary for us to stay in the league, but we do believe in ourselves. The old cliche is that the league doesn't lie but there is no way my team is the worst in the league. We may have been a bit naive at first in the league with some of our defending but our young players now understand that it is not just pretty passing for 90 minutes, they are realising thaty they have to work hard when the opposition have got the ball. We have had lots of mountains to climb this season, but after beating Glenafton and Kilbirnie, we don't have anything to fear heading into this Saturday's match and are fully confident." The Thistle boss also praised his defence and goalkeeper for their first clean sheet of the season, and said: "I thought Eddie Walton was excellent for us and was always in the right palce at the right time. Defenders have to work hard for every clean sheet and that is what happened on Saturday."