They may be getting a wee bit fidgety up Maryhill way after this. A third successive defeat was bad enough but the manner of the reversal was even more alarming. Inverness Caledonian Thistle could easily have doubled their tally during a worryingly lop-sided second half as the hosts struggled to muster up the actual motions let alone go through them.

With Kilmarnock galvanising their bid to haul themselves away from the relegation play-off spot with a 4-0 trouncing of Hamilton, Partick Thistle now find themselves just six points ahead of the rejuvenated Ayrshiremen ahead of a huge encounter between the sides at Rugby Park next weekend. On the evidence of this pitiful performance, it could be a nail-nibbling end to the season.

“The second half was unacceptable and this now makes it a massive game next weekend,” conceded Alan Archibald, the Partick Thistle manager. “We got ourselves in a position where we could’ve been sitting comfortably but we’ve now put a bit of pressure on ourselves to get a result and it gives Kilmarnock something to aim for. All the things we have done well this season has been thrown out the window. I’ve not seen us defend like that for a year-and-a-half.”

The home side made most of the early forays forward but they were caught on the hop in 14 minutes when Andrea Mbuyu-Mutombo sent Carl Tremarco scampering free down an exposed left hand side and he poked a tidy finish past Ryan Scully.

From then on, it was fairly hum-drum fare as the half meandered to a largely uneventful conclusion. Sean Welsh and Kris Doolan both skittered efforts wide but there was little to stir the senses of the increasingly restless natives.

The cursings and bawlings grew louder immediately after the resumption when Miles Storey nipped in and bounced a second goal into the net via Scully’s flapping hand.

It would go from bad to worse as Inverness ambled forward at will and the red and yellow jags wilted. Jordan Roberts cracked the post while the hard pressed Scully had to pull off four fine saves as the visitors breached the shoogly Partick rearguard time and again. The third goal eventually arrived in 76 minutes when Josh Meekings was afforded the freedom of Firhill to volley in a third from a corner. Doolan brought some sardonic cheers from the brassed off home support when he notched a consolation with seven minutes left but there was still time for Inverness to nick a fourth when Roberts thumped in a volley at the back post.