IT'S eleven years since Stuart Bannigan signed professional forms with Partick Thistle and his lengthy stay at Firhill will be commemorated by a testimonial match for the 29-year-old next year. Ideally, the occasion will double as a celebration of their return to the Premiership, a possibility which seems likely given the potency of this performance.

Bannigan’s status as a one-club man (leaving aside a loan spell with Saturday’s opponents in 2010) was threatened when Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes wanted to take the tenacious midfielder to Pittodrie in 2016 but a serious knee injury which ruled him out for a season scuppered that possibility.

He has had his share of highs and lows during his time in Maryhill, winning promotion to the top tier in 2013 and remaining there for five years before relegation to the Championship was followed two years later by their controversial demotion to League One.

Now the Jags are on course for back-to-back promotions. The highest scorers in the division with 28 goals from 14 fixtures, they recovered from a sluggish start at Somerset Park to win with plenty to spare on an afternoon which highlighted the difference between the haves and have-nots in the Championship.

Thistle moved up to fourth with this emphatic victory, with just five points separating the top five clubs. There are only three points between sixth and tenth but the gap between fifth and six is already eleven points as the Premiership has created its own version of the split.

Captain Ross Docherty’s free-kick for the opener took a benign (for him) deflection on its way past Aidan McAdams and dilatory defending saw Brian Graham scandalously unmarked as he volleyed home a Scott Tiffoney corner from six yards.

As Ayr attempted to salvage something from the game, Thistle struck on the break. Graham headed home his 13th of the campaign from Ciaran McKenna’s cross and, in stoppage time, the perseverance of Bannigan saw him chase a lost cause to the byline and his cutback was drilled home by substitute Shea Gordon. Little wonder that the Jags fans are dreaming of taking on the big boys in 2022/23.

“I think we’ve shown we can compete with anyone in this division and, coming up, that was the first thing we had to do,” said Bannigan. “We’d earned the right to be here and we had to show we belonged here – we’ve given every team we’ve played a game and that’s all you can do.

“We’ll see where we are come the third round of fixtures and go from there but we’re not looking that far ahead – it’s still one game at a time for us. You’ve seen the way the division has split between the top half and the bottom half. There’s now eleven points between fifth and sixth.

“Our job now is to make sure we stay in the top five. As long as we stay away from the bottom end then you never know. We fancy our chances of staying in the mix, though, and we have a good enough squad to do it.

“We made a few changes from the team which won at Kilmarnock last week and it showed that boys are ready to come off the bench and do a job for us – Brian got two goals for us here and Ciaran got an assist. It’s down to whether we can maintain this form for the rest of the season but we’ll give it everything we’ve got.”

At home to struggling Hamilton on Saturday, Thistle have an opportunity to maintain that momentum but Bannigan is taking nothing for granted.

“It was comfortable in the last 15-20 minutes but I thought it was a tough game: there really wasn’t much in it during the first half,” he said. “Having scored the first two goals, we could pick and choose our moments to attack them and it certainly helps when you score early on and the home team feels forced to come at you.

“The scoreline might have flattered us a wee bit but it was a fantastic result for us. That’s two wins in a row and seven games unbeaten in the league, with five clean sheets in a row as well.”