You know it’s been a bad start to the the season when you are talking about fighting for your lives before a pumpkin has been carved, but that is precisely where Partick Thistle find themselves.

Hallowe’en is a far less scary prospect for Thistle supporters than the horror show they were subjected to at the Energy Check Stadium at Firhill on Saturday, as the presence of new manager Steve Clarke inspired Kilmarnock to a crucial and deserved first win of the campaign.

Little wonder then that Thistle striker Kris Doolan looked like he had seen a ghost as he faced the press in the aftermath of a woeful showing from his side that left them with boos ringing in their ears and three points adrift at the bottom of the table. The most frightening aspect of the afternoon was that manager Alan Archibald had to concede afterwards that the visiting players appeared to simply want it more, an unpalatable truth for a club stalwart like Doolan to bear.

“We don’t want to hear that Kilmarnock wanted it more, because we should be wanting it every bit as much,” said Doolan. “We’re fighting for our lives.

“I’m sure everybody is disappointed that we’ve not come away with any points. The players are really hurting.

“The fans are entitled to voice their opinion and tell us what they think, because they pay money to come and watch.

“We’ve got to deal with that, and now it’s up to us. We’re the ones who can change the results on the pitch, and we do have a run of games where we can turn things round.

“There’s just a feeling of total disappointment. It was a game we thought we could really stamp our authority on and get three points, but obviously to come away with a 2-0 defeat is hard to take.

“We never got going. We tried to pass the ball but nothing was coming of it, and it gets frustrating when it’s like that, but we have to find another way to win a game.”

And they have to do it fast, with Dundee next to visit Maryhill this Saturday before a visit to Hamilton. While the sterling work of Jags boss Archibald has bought him time to turn this around, there is little doubt that these games are now taking on the look of six-pointers even this early in the campaign.

For Kilmarnock, all the talk post-match centred on the beginning of an exciting new era under former Chelsea assistant and West Brom boss Clarke.

Their victory here came from a typically cool Kris Boyd finish in the first half after Niall Keown misjudged a Jordan Jones cross to put the ball on a plate for the hitman, and a rocket from Adam Frizzell after the break that kissed the crossbar on its way past the despairing dive of Tomas Cerny.

Frizzell is hoping that the win can kick-start their own poor opening to the season, and he is looking forward to absorbing the wisdom of a coach who has worked at such close quarters with the likes of Jose Mourinho.

“It is a real coup,” Frizzell said. “I hope Mourinho will make an appearance at Kilmarnock at some point. But it will be a great learning experience.”

“We all felt we had a point to prove and we did that”.