STALWART defender Steven Anderson has accused Partick Thistle of being a soft touch and insists they need to get tough quickly after falling back to the foot of the Championship.

Jags completely collapsed in the second half after holding a deserved two-goal lead at the break and Anderson is furious they didn’t see the game out.

The on-loan St Johnstone star feels they need to get street-wise if they are going to avoid the dreaded drop, and that has to start at Dunfermline tomorrow night.

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“It’s not good enough," said Anderson. "We should see the game out, simple as that. Professionals should know how to see games out. We were good first half and we get that but we need to be cute during games.

“We need to be nasty, really, and if they’re on top we need to slow it down and understand that putting in a challenge will get us up the park.

“The pressure was there and we couldn’t deal with it. It’s not good enough. We were just soft.

“I hate losing. The whole team does. Anybody does when you’re not a good loser. They came out and we gave away a soft goal and then the pressure was there and we couldn’t deal with it.

“That’s the first time I’ve experienced it now and it’s not good enough but I’m part of that as well and I need to do better. We need to learn quickly because we need to go and get three points on Tuesday and go on a run again.”

Thistle’s misery was in total contrast to the joy felt by County as they strengthened their lead at the top and can pull eight clear of Ayr United if they beat them tomorrow night.

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It was a great day for striker Ross Stewart who scored twice and won a penalty – converted by Billy McKay – with Jamie Lindsay netting the other goal after Aidan Fitzpatrick and Christie Elliott had Thistle ahead.

Having won promotion last season with title winners St Mirren and Alloa – he was on loan when the Wasps won the play-off final – he is looking to make it at hat-trick.

He said: “It would be excellent to get back-to-back winner’s medals. Not many people get the chance to win medals in their career so I can’t speak highly enough of that opportunity.

“But it’s up to the team to keep showing up week after week to get where we want to be.

“We knew as a team what we had to do and the character shown was testament to what we’ve got.

“We knew there’d be questions asked after the replay with Inverness last week but we can’t look for excuses.

“You’ve got to look after yourself between games and we’re well looked after at the training facility. It took us a while to get going but when we did we were excellent.”

“As a striker you’ll always be judged on your goals so I’m very happy with that. It’s all about the team though.

“It was great to get the reaction we had today and go further clear. We’ve got a lot of creativity in the team and if I keep getting myself in the box, I’ll get chances. I can’t thank my team-mates enough but I’m delighted with getting my goals.

“We’ve got a close-knit team here and when called upon, we back each other to the end. We know we’ve got that and we’re going to need it later in the season, because there are a lot of difficult games to come.”