Partick Thistle’s hard–fought victory over Inverness was not exactly a classic, far less a match for the famous El Clásico. And the last–gasp winner at Firhill on Saturday was certainly more fortuitous than Barcelona’s demolition of Real Madrid at the Bernabéu a couple of hours later.

But, even though Maryhill is unlikely to witness the sort of sublime skills we can expect from the likes of Neymar and Luis Suárez any time soon, what was on display in this encounter was the kind of character and resilience that may just see Partick escape a relegation dogfight this season after all.

Having fallen behind after just six minutes, a leveller from Kris Doolan and an injury–time winner from substitute Ryan Stevenson – that he may or may not have meant – allowed Partick to put further daylight between themselves and rock bottom Dundee United, as well as edging ahead of Motherwell on goal difference into 10th spot.

Defender Mustapha Dumbuya said: “We started off a bit shaky but we ended the game really well. You've got to give Inverness credit as well, they started strongly. They play football as well and that's what made it an exciting game.

“It's not El Clásico but it made for a decent enough game to watch and enjoy. Sometimes you've got to win games like that and keep grafting for 90 minutes plus. If you keep grafting, you never know what can happen.

“I think we will soon be climbing the table. We've got to keep working hard and improve our home form. When we are away from home, we've got a togetherness that we need to try to bring to our home games.”

It looked like it would be Inverness’s day when they seized the initiative early on. Danny Williams released Miles Storey through on goal and he did well to keep his composure and dispatch an angled drive beyond the reach of goalkeeper Ryan Scully.

Partick were unfortunate not to restore parity when Callum Booth picked out Doolan in front of goal and his point–blank header was tipped over by Owain Fon Williams. The striker was further frustrated when he sliced wide of target from the resulting corner.

However, Doolan’s persistence paid off when he claimed the leveller, and only his third goal of the season, three minutes before the interval. Steven Lawless fed Doolan from the left and the striker was on target with a shot from the tightest of angles.

Partick’s second home win of the campaign was then secured in injury time when Stevenson unleashed an opportune cross–come–shot from distance that managed to beat Fon Williams.

Dumbuya added: “We worked really hard in training all week and I think we got our just reward. We focused on Inverness for the whole week and it showed. They started really well, and we were expecting that to be fair, but the gaffer told us we had to finish the game well and we managed to do that.”

The Sierra Leone international signed for Partick in September and, although it has been a difficult season for the Jags, Dumbuya is enjoying life in Glasgow.

He said: “I’m loving it here. There's no weight upon your shoulders, the gaffer lets you go out and do what you do. As a footballer, you just want to win every game. If we keep the mentality we showed against Inverness then we will definitely win more than we lose.”

Inverness midfielder Williams felt their endeavours merited at least a point and he insists the Highlanders must now regroup ahead of next weekend’s visit of Celtic.

He said: “We started pretty well, passing the ball like we usually do, but the goal just killed us at the end. We deserved at least a point out of the game so it's disappointing. We got a lot of joy in the first half from passing the ball and keeping it and creating opportunities. Then we stopped doing it. Maybe we sat back and invited them on and that's how they got the goal. We just have to look forward to next Sunday against Celtic and hope we can get a result out of that game.”