Tomas Cerny has enjoyed another impressive season in Partick Thistle’s goal this term, but he has revealed that he feared his season was over before it had barely started after an injury scare.

Cerny was out for almost three months after aggravating a foot problem in a game against St Johnstone, but it could have been worse had he required an operation, which seemed a very real possibility at one stage.

Thankfully, surgery wasn’t needed after all, and the Czech keeper made his comeback in December, a period which correlated with Thistle’s defensive record improving considerably.

That was no coincidence, with the assured displays of the 32-year-old contributing to nine clean sheets since the tail end of last year.

“It’s been a very good season, especially considering the injury I had,” Cerny said.

“Luckily enough I didn’t miss that many games relatively speaking, because it could have been much worse. I was worried at one stage that my season might be over.

“It all hinged on me having to maybe have an operation, and if that had been the case, then I might not have played again this season.

“It’s strange to think that what might have been one of the worst seasons of my career has ended up being one of the best, with the team obviously doing so well and making our target of the top six.”

Cerny says that Thistle are determined to put pressure on fifth-placed Hearts at Tynecastle today, after a disappointing performance against Rangers at Ibrox last time out.

“The second-half performance at Tynecastle the last time we were there was a key moment in our season,” he said.

“It gave us so much confidence because we played so well and should have won the game.

“Since then, we seem to have had more belief in ourselves as a team, and we feel like we can go anywhere now and not only compete, but come away with a win.

“I think we need to win this game if we are to have any chance of coming fifth, so it is a really important match.”

Hearts defender Liam Smith meanwhile hopes that his side can get back on the front foot in the chase for a European slot after finally sorting out their problems in defence.

The Jambos let their grasp on a Europa League slot slip after picking up just one win during a torrid seven-game run.

During that stretch, the Gorgie men were conceding an average of two goals a game as they dropped down to fifth in the Ladbrokes Premiership table.

But the recent 1-0 Tynecastle win over Dundee and goalless draw down at Kilmarnock have suggested manager Ian Cathro has found a way to solidify his team's rear-guard.

Smith said: "When you're controlling games but not getting results then your confidence does take a dunt as you start thinking, 'What do we have to do to win games?'

"So from a defender's point of view, the two clean sheets we've had are a positive. We've been losing games but if you don't concede goals you can't get beat.

"When your confidence is low and you're not picking up the results you want, you need to go back to basics and a clean sheet does that for the defenders.

"With five games left we can't look behind us now, we have to look forward and that starts on Saturday. If we can get a bit of momentum going that will be a big help to us achieving our aim of getting back into Europe."