CONRAD BALATONI is confident Partick Thistle can continue their Premiership purple patch and clinch a lofty league placing this term.

The Jags moved seven points clear of eleventh-placed Motherwell with a 2-0 win over the Steelmen on Saturday as Lyle Taylor bagged a brace at Firhill.

With three wins from their last five top-flight outings, Thistle are now just five points adrift of Hamilton Accies as they look to finish top of the bottom half of the table this season.

Alan Archibald's side are still not arithmetically assured of a third successive campaign in the Premiership, but are now on the brink of safety ahead of the final five-game shootout.

Balatoni said: "We have been on a good run and I think people have been forgetting that. We have played top teams and beaten them and drawn with Aberdeen, albeit we were beaten by Celtic, which was a minor blip.

"We have had a good run so we were confident going into the game. There were people writing us off, but we went out and showed what we were about.

"It is a bit nervous and we knew if we got beaten then we were right in the thick of it. We have won and put a cushion between ourselves and Motherwell.

"Hopefully results go our way now and we can go on a good run after the split and finish as high as we can.

"I think maybe one more win and I think that would be us. We will go out and try and win every game we can.

"We are not looking behind us, we are looking in front of us. We want to finish the season on a high and go on a good run and be unbeaten in the split."

After a lengthy period of frustrating form that saw their dreams of a top-six finish fall by the wayside, Thistle have put together an impressive run at just the right time of the campaign.

As Ross County and Mother- well have also had an upturn, the Jags have been able to keep themselves at the head of the pack as the battle to beat the drop intensifies.

Archibald's side have gone under the radar in recent weeks and Balatoni reckons they have once again proved themselves after another huge result.

He said: "We just go about our business quietly and if people don't take any notice then it doesn't bother us, to be honest.

"We have maybe proved the doubters wrong that said we were going to get beaten because Motherwell were flying.

"We know we have got a good squad and I think our goal difference shows that as well. We are the only team in plus figures in the bottom half of the table so that shows we are doing something right."

After a low-key first half that saw both sides struggle to get going, Thistle upped their game after the break to clinch a deserved win thanks to a quickfire Taylor double.

The striker converted after Balatoni headed a Kallum Higginbotham free-kick back across goal and then beat keeper George Long from close range just seven minutes later.

Balatoni said: "The pitch wasn't great and the wind was causing havoc for both teams. In the second half, you could see that our quality came through and it was quite a convincing win."