FROM a match which both managers described as terrible, something memorable and almost beautiful emerged in the aftermath.

That most unusual thing happened; praise for a referee. And not any old ref, there were some kind words for Willie Collum, Scottish football’s most notorious whistler.

Hamilton midfielder Darian McKinnon is a player who likes a tackle. Nothing at all wrong with that except that yellow cards seems to be shown to anyone these days who makes the slightest contact with an opponent.

The Accies man spent all of Saturday at Firhill chatting to Collum and in a good way. McKinnon’s team may have lost but at least ref won his respect.

"I don't care what anybody says Willie is a good referee and he talks you through it,” said McKinnon. “Willie gets a really hard time but he's a really good guy.

"I was going mental because I was running through and they fouled me and nobody got booked. I can't repeat the industrial language I was using at Willie but I was fouled three or four times and I was arguing with him if that was me I would have been straight in the book.

"That's was the point I was making to Willie. He told me he had let me away with three or four especially the one I caught Ryan Edwards very high. He is a good referee.”

The Partick Thistle supporters would take issue with this as they were unhappy at a few tackles being allowed to go and a foul not automatically followed by a booking.

Shouting at the referee is a national sport and one we are actually good at. Perhaps it’s time we all directed our ire elsewhere.

"I think all the referees get a hard time,” said McKinnon. “You see the guests on Sportscene analysing the game and incidents and it has taken them seven replays to reach a decision.

"So how can they expect a human being to get it right in the blinking of an eye?

"Sometimes I am screaming for something and I watch it back on the analysis and I'm like 'ooft' fair play to the referee.

"I remember the Hearts game when Callum Paterson got sent off and I was screaming at the referee that he had tried to do me and I watched it back and realised he was red carded when he shouldn't have been.

"It is a difficult job that referees have. At least you can speak to Willie. Craig Thomson booked me against Dunfermline on Wednesday night. I asked Craig how I never got a foul and he booked me.

"I never swore at him and I was looking at him because he is usually a nice guy. Getting that yellow card means I will now miss the Scottish Cup quarter-final against Rangers at Ibrox.

"Willie's a bit different like that as you can just bounce things off him all day and he's great."

McKinnon did well to put a positive spin on a 2-0 defeat. Hamilton are struggling. It’s difficult to see them finish out of the play-off place at best.

As for Thistle, they have sneaked into the top six and are in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals. These are heady days in Maryhill.

“We hope this can end up a special season,” said Chris Erksine who set up the opening goal for his fellow substitute Kris Doolan whose double took him to 97 for Thistle.

“We spoke before the game on Saturday about wanting to win so we can look up the way and not be looking over our shoulders as much. Hopefully we can do that now, we need to kick on.

“We’re just working hard; it’s the same every year. You’ve just got to have the right players, the right manager, work hard in training and hope it pays off in the games. There’s still a long way to go in the season, we haven’t achieved anything yet, that’s for sure. We’ve got eight games before the split so those are big games for us.

“It would be a great achievement for this club to finish in the top six when you look at our budget compared to what the other teams have got, and there’s obviously a few big budgets in the league that take the top positions and then the rest of us are scrambling about for the last couple of places in the top six.”

At least Partick are scrambling. Hamilton are falling.