Tommy Craig, most observers would agree, has been under intense pressure during St Mirren's indifferent start to the season.

But consider this: Motherwell, the best team in Scotland outwith Celtic for the last two years, are now sitting beneath them in the table.

Stuart McCall has far too much capital in reserve to be in danger of losing his job, and it is a testimony to his managerial wizardry that 11th place in the SPFL Premiership after nine games rates as a disaster, but he still needs to conjure up a recovery, and fast.

The sorry truth here is that Motherwell didn't look like scoring, even when they did.

Lionel Ainsworth struck what will be one of the goals of the season, but it was not the product of a cohesive attack. Instead, it arrived from nowhere. From more than 35 yards and a standing start, the Motherwell winger put his foot through the ball and it soared wonderfully, gloriously, into the top-left corner.

It sparked a brief fightback, but Thistle's skill and pace on the counter punished the visitors' abandon. Caught with everyone upfield, right-back Stephen O'Donnell raced through the middle of the park with nobody tracking him; the ball was slipped through by Nathan Eccleston and he coolly finished under the body of Dan Twardzik to put the game to bed.

"Last season, games like that we were probably winning," said a despondent McCall after the match. "Things aren't going for us, confidence is a little bit low. It's just hard work, there's no magic formula. You've just got to stick in there."

Thistle's second was a terrific team goal. Conrad Balatoni launched the ball long and Steven Lawless cleverly cushioned it - if he got a touch at all - into the path of O'Donnell. The full-back drove into the area and cut it back for Kris Doolan, whose smacked first-time finish was fired high into the roof of the net.

Motherwell had started the brighter and might have taken the lead. Josh Law darted down the left flank, before clipping the ball back to the near post where Henrik Ojamaa had sneaked in front of his marker. Scott Fox, though, just managed to stretch a hand out to the Estonian's little glanced header for a reflex save.

That sparked Thistle into life. Lawless set up the opener, brilliantly playing in Stuart Bannigan behind Fraser Kerr on the left flank. The midfielder drove infield and stroked the ball past Twardzik.

Thistle kept up the pressure, with Abdul Osman a strong presence in midfield, and Motherwell were struggling to get into the game. A corner was swung in, but all John Sutton could do was glance a tame header into Fox's hands. Stephen McManus should have done better when in miles of space from another set-piece.

There was something more tangible about Thistle's attack. They looked more like scoring, even in spells when they had fewer chances. James Craigen smacked a near-post effort that was well-saved; Osman nearly added the finishing touch to a swung-in corner. Lee Erwin came closest for the visitors as time ticked on, blasting the ball straight at Fox in injury time, but Motherwell did not deserve a point.

"I'm delighted, we did the ugly side of the game well today," said Thistle boss Alan Archibald. "We had a wee wobble for five minutes, but I thought we recovered really well. The whole team performance was really good."