Thistle boss Stuart Davidson has called on referees to give his young players more protection after defender Ross Love was taken off with a bad injury on Saturday.


It was to have an influential outcome in this game as Nicky Little ran through on goal and clinched an 85th minute winner for Clydebank.
Largs have slipped from third to seventh position in recent weeks in the McBookie.com Premier Division making it important to get 2020 off to a positive start against relegation threatened Rutherglen Glencairn. It is a 1.45pm kick-off.
With an injury to Ross Love, and Jamie Lydon having played his last game as trialist, Largs could have a defensive headache this weekend.
Manager Davidson pointed the finger of blame at referee Ross Gentles for not being more authoritative as Thistle were on the end of a number of robust challenges.
Davidson, who is currently sitting out a two game suspension after his dismissal against Pollok, said: "I thought we were doing well and it looked at 2-1 as if we were going to go on and win.
"Clydebank started getting physical and put themselves about.
"We have to learn from this and be tougher and stand up to it.
"However, I was particularly disappointed at the treatment Ross Love received - he took three knocks in a row and then ended up having to come off.
"We didn't even get a foul for it.
"In the first half, the ball goes into the box and Scott Adam is about to put it in and their boy stands on his foot to stop us from scoring, and the referee says it is not a penalty because he didn't mean it?
"Every foul in the park - not everyone means it - so I don't understand how he can't give the penalty.
"I was really disappointed with the referee's performance.
"What do you do from the sidelines? Do you tell the players to give it back and then your players ended up getting booked and sent off?
"If referees are that inconsistent that is what happens - it is no wonder that managers like myself are standing at the side for a couple of games if the refereeing displays are like that."
"It was a great finish from Scott Adam and Ben Black did a good work and there was some good work from Blair MacIntyre for the 2nd goal.
"I would have liked for us to go on and get the third killer goal but it wasn't to be but Clydebank started getting physical putting in late tackles in and getting physical.
"It turned the game a little bit and the ref let it go.
"The first goal Nicky Little great at making goals from deeper areas, but it could have been defended better. The second goal was a top hit from their player but there was disruption to our defence a bit for the third goal."
The Largs gaffer believed his side could have done a lot better in the second half.
He said:"At that point we stopped working as hard up the park - and I think we need to work harder to stop the opposition from getting to the other end of the park.
"I am always trying to bring in new players but we need to bring in the right players as you can see from the inexperience we showed against Clydebank 
"We are sitting on 27 points but one win in five is not good enough for us - performances have to improve.
"We have a lot to do this week before Rutherglen come calling as they are going to be tough opposition
"They started the league well and we always expect tough games when we race Rutherglen."