KRIS DOOLAN could count on one hand how many goals he has scored this season.
The other he had wedged between his knees to stave off the chill, the Partick Thistle striker having been made to feel more uncomfortable by the temperature inside Firhill than his strike-rate for Partick Thistle. He has been warmed by his recent performances for the Glasgow side after all, since he has now scored three times in as many matches - allowing Doolan to become wrapped some statistics of his own. "It's good to be up there with the top scorers in the league," he acknowledged.
That his name has been placed snugly alongside such as Anthony Stokes and John Sutton in that list will feel significant for the 26-year-old given that he is only in his fourth month as a top-flight striker. It might have felt longer at times, not least when supporters focused their ire on him whenever Thistle toiled in front of goal, but Doolan has found more patience from his manager, Alan Archibald, and goals against both Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Celtic.
He has been allowed to find his feet in the SPFL Premiership, then, and will be expected to walk out at Pittodrie this evening when Thistle make the trip to Aberdeen. It is a measure of the strides the Firhill side have made that they approach the fixture without apprehension and in the knowledge that a win would carry them into the top six of the league table. That would be some sight to behold for Thistle supporters, although Doolan would seem content simply to see his side holding their own against teams like Aberdeen.
"It's great to be preparing for games every week against the likes of Celtic, Aberdeen, Inverness, whoever," said the Thistle striker, who joined from junior team Auchinleck Talbot in 2009. "We know how good the players are that we've got and I think we deserve to be in this position and playing in the Premier League. The boys deserve to have their chance."
Doolan has worked hard to make sure that he is able to take his, resolving to pay particular attention to more proficient lone strikers. "You look about all the teams, you try to take bits off everybody and it is just important to keep learning," he said. "I am not different and I will keep learning as much as I can, as quick as I can. The defenders [in the Premiership] are very clever players, big and strong, and you will find there are no small defenders, or they are at least few and far between.
"That doesn't mean you can't score and you just have to work the ball a different way to get into goal-scoring positions. I think that once we do that - and we have been doing that more recently - then the goals will start to come."
If that is to be considered a work in progress then Thistle goalkeeper Scott Fox will have an opportunity to show how close he is to becoming finished article after he was this morning called up to the senior Scotland squad. If he is looking for advice on what to expect then he might approach Jamie Langfield after tonight's match, since the Aberdeen goalkeeper was an intermittent presence in squads earlier in his career.
He would now seem closer to more domestic ambitions, such as registering the most clean sheets in the top flight. Langfield is still four shy of former Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor - he will need to reach 95 to set a record - but should achieve that target soon this season, since Aberdeen have kept eight shut-outs on his watch already. Not bad for a player whose displays once had caused him to contract the unfortunate nickname 'Clangers'.
"It's going well but I don't take any credit," said Langfield, whose side will go second with victory tonight. "It's the boys in front of me who keep the shots away from me. They have been superb, all six defenders who can quite easily come into the side. We work hard on the defence every week and it gives us a good chance to be expansive and we have a great bond with each other. It's working.
"The confidence we have is bred from not losing goals and getting wins. We saw that in the League Cup tie at Motherwell last week when we went down to 10 men - we got our organisation right and we didn't concede. We also limited Motherwell from putting in crosses and our three centre-backs that night were incredible. When you're organised it is half the battle."
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