SEAN WELSH, the Partick Thistle midfielder, has agreed a new contract with the club that will keep him at Firhill until the end of next season. The 25-year-old signed a short-term deal in the summer as he looked to prove his fitness to manager Alan Archibald and has now been rewarded for a solid start to the campaign.

Welsh has been plagued with injury since helping Thistle to the First Division title and played just 16 times for the Jags as they finished tenth and eighth in their first two campaigns back at this level. The midfielder has featured in all five of Thistle’s games so far this term as they have picked up three points thanks to draws against Hamilton, Inverness Caley Thistle and Kilmarnock and is determined to make the most of another chance to impress.

“I have to thank the gaffer for the faith he has shown in me and I am trying to repay him,” he told Herald Sport. “I have to show that I have got a good character, that I will work hard and that I can be a key player for the team. I will not slack off, I am here to prove my worth to the team and the club.

“It has been hugely frustrating, it has been terrible. It was really hard to deal with. But, what can you do other than get on with it? You have got to stay strong. There will be hard days when you are in the gym yourself and you feel low. But the hard work will get you there in the end so you need to keep working away. I have done that and now I am back playing. I want to keep getting games and getting better.”

Archibald added: “Sean has proved his fitness and he’s been very, very good. He’s had a terrible time of it but nobody has worked harder. You get boys who some physios think enjoy being injured because they see it as a jolly but Sean’s worked hard.

“Everything he’s been asked to do he has done and he’s been desperate to get back fit.”