PARTICK THISTLE manager Ian McCall is confident that his side can put their early-season blip behind them and rack up a third straight league win when they host Jim Duffy’s Dumbarton tomorrow afternoon.

The Jags struggled to get up and running this term and are in the midst of an injury crisis that has ruled nine players out of action for the foreseeable future, with late goals against proving particularly costly as first Cove Rangers and then Falkirk struck at the death to harm Thistle’s points tally.

Since then, however, McCall has overseen a penalty shoot-out win over Morton in the Betfred Cup after the scores were goalless after 90 minutes and clean-sheet victories over East Fife and Montrose as momentum builds at Firhill.

With many players sidelined through injury, McCall has turned to Mo ‘Sena’ Niang to slot in as cover at centre-half – with the Thistle boss delighted with how the 20-year-old has settled into his new role.

“Sena has done really well and big [Rhys] Breen before he got injured was doing really well,” McCall said.

“It’s not what we envisaged would be our first choice [centre-back partnership] but they’ve come in and done really well. For us, it’s just a matter of getting through the next two, three, four games while we’ve got eight or nine out.

“Hopefully a lot of them will come back in – not necessarily straight back into the team – and make us a lot stronger. We think Darren Brownlie is a proper centre-back and putting Ricky Foster at left-back has worked so far although it’s early days.

“It’s always nice to keep clean sheets but the trick is to do that and then be potent at the other end of the field.”

McCall added that while he has largely been impressed with Sena since the natural midfielder moved further back the park, there are still one of two areas where the former Pollok man can improve.

“It’s early days but it’s really good for us that he can play different positions,” said the Jags boss. “He started out at centre-back and he has grown into it.

“There are one or two bits where he’s a wee bit impetuous or trying to win everything but in the second half [against Montrose] he was outstanding. He did really, really well.

“Physically, he’s really imposing so who knows where he’ll play in the fullness of time. He’s certainly one that we want to keep here.”

Sena spent last season on loan at Montrose alongside Blair Lyons, the former Stirling University winger that finalised a move to Firhill over the summer.

While the former has made quite the impression on the first team since pitching up in Maryhill, the latter has found his game time limited as he adjusts to the demands of playing for a professional football club – something that McCall insists is perfectly natural.

“[Being on loan at Montrose] was really good for Sena and Blair Lyons as well,” McCall said. “Last year Blair came into train with us and he was flying.

“He’s taken a wee while with full-time training and he’s picked up a couple of injuries, and maybe his confidence has taken a hit, so maybe he’s taken a wee while to come to terms with it.

“Sena has been great; he’s been like a breath of fresh air and he’s got a great attitude. That’s one of the things that had to be changed here. We’re getting there – it’s a slow process, but we’re getting there.”

Lyons will be given another opportunity to impress for the Jags tomorrow afternoon. The wide attacker is a certainty to be included in McCall’s injury-ravaged squad, even if he may have to settle for a place on the bench to begin with.

Tomorrow’s opponents Dumbarton will arrive at Firhill off the back of a torrid run of form that has seen the Sons lose each of their last five games, with the League One side unable to find the net in their previous four outings. Thistle, by contrast, clocked up back-to-back wins in their last two games without conceding a goal.

While encouraged by the Jags’ form of late, McCall wasn’t exactly agreeable to the suggestion that his side had turned a corner – arguing that the Thistle form guide wasn’t entirely representative of his team’s displays.

“We weren’t sure there was a corner to turn – not within the club, and certainly not the players,” McCall explained.

“We played two games against Cove and Falkirk and drew one and got beat one. Very easily they could have been a draw and a win or two wins, so we’re on a half-decent run just now.

“I would want to emphasise that – I think if you manage to go another two, three, four games then it becomes a really good run. All the players will be focused on that on Saturday and we’ve got a very, very strong home record so far this season.

“One of Maryhill’s finest [Jim Duffy] is coming back with his team and it won’t be easy. The players are made well aware of that before every game.

“There are no easy games and they’ll need to be right up for it but on the other side of that, I can see the confidence growing and that’s a good thing. If we manage to go on a longer run the confidence will grow even more.”

One man who will have a large say in whether the Jags can stretch their winning run tomorrow afternoon is on-loan goalkeeper Kieran Wright, who was awarded the club’s player of the month award for November earlier today.

McCall admits that he didn’t expect his loan Ranger to feature as heavily as he has during the campaign’s opening exchanges but since Jamie Sneddon has been sidelined with injury, Wright has become Thistle’s first pick between the sticks.

It’s been an encouraging start to life at Firhill for the Scotland Under-21 internationalist, with McCall adding that a combination of first-team experience and constant feedback from Wright’s parent club are aiding the young keeper’s development.

McCall said: “At the start [Jamie] Sneddon had the jersey but that was as much down to Kieran being away with the Under-21s.

“He’s come in and he’s done really well. I would say that he’s not really had much to do in the last two games. My opinion on goalies is that most of them can make a lot of good saves but it’s the easy things – catching the ball, throwing it early, kicking, talking – he’s been excellent at. He’s in a good place and he’s had a good few weeks but it’s very early days.

“[Rangers loan manager Billy] Kirkwood phones me all the time and I speak to Gary [McAllister] every week. There’s a constant process involved there, we fill in reports on how they’re doing and things like that.

“Both Kieran and Rhys [Breen] have done really well and long may that continue. They’re both young players and this is their opportunity to be regulars in the first team.”