SATISFACTION felt some way off for Kallum Higginbotham on Monday night.
The Partick Thistle forward had been a little more accurate than that, of course, lifting a shot on to the top of the crossbar straight from the kick-off after Aberdeen had scored their third goal of the evening. The 24-year-old's bold effort would also raise Thistle's spirits some, even if those would later drop too, and not quite as delicately.
Still, given that Alan Archibald would seem to have spent much of this season urging his side to show a little more creativity in the final third, Higginbotham could hardly be blamed for trying to meet that demand from halfway. The forward would be able to defend himself for that moment of impertinence - he had scored from a similar position three years ago when his Rochdale side defeated Accrington Stanley - and it is his capacity to think outside the box which should be considered more valuable to Thistle than his ability to shoot from out with it.
The Firhill side - who will host St Mirren this afternoon - have been respected for their dedicated passing this season, yet they have still to be feared, since the Glasgow club have only scored 11 goals in the league. They have breached their opponents' defences more than once in only three league games.
Those numbers sit starkly in front of Thistle, even if Higginbotham would give little thought to the statistics when he decided it was worth trying to beat the long-odds from such long range. "I've just seen him off his line and I thought I might as well have a pop at it," said the Thistle forward, whose only previous goal this term happened to contribute to a win over St Mirren in August.
"It was just an instinct thing; the keeper was off his line and I saw that then just tried to beat him. I saw him come forward and just said to Dools [Kris Doolan] to pass it to me. He said after the game that he had no idea what I was doing.
"I scored from halfway when I was at Rochdale and we were playing Accrington. I'm not saying I'm known for scoring halfways but I like to try the shots that people don't try regularly. It just didn't come off this time. But I've said before that I'd much prefer to score tap-ins every week than one or two spectacular goals during the season."
A tap-in today could likely feel far weightier to Thistle, given it would allow them to pull away from their visitors. Since winning in Paisley at the end of August, Thistle have won only once in the league and St Mirren have moved to within five points in the table.
"We're playing perfect football around the box we just need that final ball and hopefully we can do that on Saturday," Higginbotham said. "We're getting dragged back again towards Kilmarnock, St Mirren and Ross County, so a win here would give us that cushion again. But our main objective at the start of the season was to stay in this division and I'm sure we'll do that."
Given the state Hearts have been in, it would seem that St Mirren can also relax a little this season. Danny Lennon might have been tempted to do just that this afternoon given he will return to familiar surroundings but the St Mirren manager has not allowed himself to think about the good old days he spent as a player at Firhill.
"[Thistle] is a club I'm very fond of and those memories will stay with me," said Lennon. "I managed to get back-to-back promotions, captained them and was inducted into the Hall of Fame a couple of years back. Those things mean a great deal to me, but all that touchy-feely nostalgia goes out of the window. I'm totally focused to go there and look for maximum points."
Kenny McLean has already found something he was looking for this week, with the St Mirren midfielder having been recalled to the Scotland Under-21 squad ahead of a European Championship qualifier against Georgia this month. "I was out for the last few games so it's good to be getting recognised again," he said.
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