ONLY time will tell the significance of this chilly afternoon in Falkirk.

Come the end of this Irn-Bru First Division season, Steven Pressley's side may well look upon their goalless draw with Partick Thistle as the catalyst for their title challenge, the fixture where they stopped the visitors in their tracks and earned a valuable, confidence-boosting draw. For his Firhill counterpart, Jackie McNamara, it could prove to be a point gained rather than two lost.

The spoils were shared but both clubs departed the Falkirk Stadium feeling they could have taken the full quota on offer. Thistle may once again have slipped from first to second in the league table but Falkirk remain well off the pace, trailing Saturday's visitors and leaders Dunfermline Athletic by 12 points.

While Thistle were aggrieved their battling performance was not fully rewarded, their hosts seemed content to take whatever they could, with Pressley setting his team up to stifle McNamara's side first and foremost.

"Maybe they will think they have got a better point than us but at the end of the day we were happy enough with a point, as well," said Michael McGovern, the Falkirk goalkeeper. "We worked to a game plan that the manager wanted us to, we got the clean sheet and on another day we would have taken one of the two or three chances that came our way, we would have won 1-0 and it would have been a fantastic result. It was not a negative result, it is something we can build on."

While Thistle remain confident that they can last the distance, Falkirk have considerable ground to make up if they are to challenge at the top of the table. Pressley's side were expected to be contenders in the title race this term but the need for victories is steadily growing if they are to live up to that.

"We didn't have a great start," McGovern said. "In the first five games, I think we lost three and that has put us on the back foot, really. We can't think about that at the moment. We just need to take the here and now and build on the last few games, which we have played reasonably well in.

"The bad start has affected us and our position in the table but if we can continue to do the things we are doing then I am sure we will start climbing the table. We have got a good squad of players and we are going in the right direction."

Falkirk did have chances to snatch all three points but a David Weatherston effort in the first half and fleeting periods of pressure in the closing stages ultimately came to nothing. It was Thistle who would leave the field with wondering what might have been, even though their attacking play was not as crisp and clinical as it has been this season. They pressed and probed with typical tenacity but when Christie Elliot's late shot was saved and a header narrowly missed the target, any lingering hopes of victory were extinguished.

"You know, come the end of the season it could prove to be a good point for us," McNamara said. "On the overall scale of things it's a better point for us right now than it is for Falkirk. They've not won a lot of games, especially at home, and you can see why."

Falkirk's Stephen Kingsley makes a block. Picture: SNS