CONOR Sammon believes Partick Thistle have already shown they can perform when the chips are down to survive the drop, writes Scott Mullen.
The Premiership strugglers survived certain relegation on the last day of the season by earning a 1-0 win away to Dundee. It was a result which condemned Ross County to the Championship and sent Thistle into the play-off final against Livingston.
Now 2-1 down after Thursday’s first leg, the Firhill club are staring the down the barrel, but Sammon remains confident.
“There are similarities. Going into the Dundee game, it was a high pressure game and we played some good football and got the result we wanted,” said the Irishman.
“We can take something from that. And even in the last five games of the season since the split we played some really good stuff and we need to build on that and get back to that because tonight we didn’t really show enough.
“We are fully aware of the situation. No one wants to be involved in it at the start of the season, But we are here now and it’s just about sticking together. It’s time to show your character in games like Sunday. It’s an opportunity for the lads to show what they are about and I have got full confidence that we can do that.”
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The major problem for Thistle was the lack of chances created. Kris Doolan’s opener was the only shot they managed on target, and Sammon knows they must change that on Sunday in Glasgow.
“We need to look to get on the ball. It’s easy to lump it and be direct,” he said.
“But that’s not our style of play and I don’t think that suits us. We’ve got some good technical footballers as Livingston do as well. We need to play to our strengths and get players on the ball causing problems in one v one situations. That’s our strengths and we need to focus on them.
“We probably just need to play more football and play to our strengths. It’s easy to get drawn into a battle and credit to Livingston because they are very good at playing that way. You can see they work hard for each other.
“We need ti show our ability on the ball and create a few more problems for them.”
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