Partick Thistle striker Tony Watt has faith that he and his teammates will secure promotion to the Premiership on Monday night.
The Maryhill club drew with St. Mirren 1-1 at Firhill in the first leg of the Premiership playoff, and go into the second leg on level terms thanks to a fantastic assist provided by Watt for Aidan Fitzpatrick’s equaliser.
And the 32-year-old has taken belief from his side’s spirited second half performance that they can make Partick Thistle a Premiership team for the first time since 2018.
“Yeah absolutely, we believe 100% that we can do it and I bet St. Mirren are the same.” Watt said post-match.
“We showed a good account of ourselves second half, we changed the shape, we got a bit more control of the game and we’ve got 11 boys in the pitch, we’ve got a lot on the bench and we’ve got a coaching staff that know the game and can change it.
“We were probably against the tide a wee bit in the first half and we changed it at half-time and I thought we were a better team second half.”
Watt, who had a loan spell at St. Mirren in 2023, joined Mark Wilson’s side last summer and says that conversations with him from when he first signed gave him assurance that a promotion push was manageable.
“I genuinely thought we could go and win the league when I was having conversations with the manager about signing.
“I seen the squad and I knew he was going to sign and I know his budget was small but I knew he was going to work on a lot of stuff but nobody really gave us a chance.
“Everybody kind of predicted us fifth, sixth, maybe even seventh, I think with all the turmoil behind the scenes at the club, and I think everybody’s chipped in, including the cup runs, including the league, including everything to help the club get to a better place.
“Long may it continue, it’s a fantastic club, it deserves to be in a good place.”
The former Scotland international has won the Premiership with Celtic and the Championship with Dundee United, but says earning promotion with Thistle could surpass both of those achievements.
“I genuinely think number one, I think it would be probably the pinnacle.
“I won the league at Celtic, who were my boyhood club, but Celtic were going to win the league that year, without me they’d have won it.
“Dundee United was massive, I loved that, we were probably expected to win it but this year the expectation’s been on everybody else and we probably weren’t even tipped to be in the play-offs,
“So look, it’s a straight shootout on Monday and we put ourselves in the race and it would probably be number one.”
