Brian Graham determined to keep Partick Thistle’s promotion push on track with help of new strike partner Alex Jakubiak

Brian Graham reckons he still has the mileage left in the tank to keep Partick Thistle’s Championship promotion push on track.

The 34-year-old striker will line up against Inverness in the Highlands tonight having won the fans-voted McCrea Financial Services Player of the Month for January.

Graham took his goal-scoring tally for the season to 15 last week against Ayr United as he closes in on the personal target set at the beginning of the season.

Jags manager Ian McCall declared last week he hadn’t worked with a player with a “bigger heart” in all his years in management, albeit only after McCall described his talisman as “an all right player, no better than that”.

Graham commented: “It was nice to hear, but if you go back to the start of it, he was winding me up and saying I was just an all-right player because he came down the stair afterwards and said to me ‘Wait until you hear what I’ve said about you in the press!’.

“The manager is great with me. He probably knows I would read that and, knowing me, get my back up to go and try to score again.

“I know what the manager’s like. We’ve both got trust in each other and it is an enjoyable working environment.

“Partick Thistle has been a fantastic fit for me. I’m enjoying my time here and hopefully the manager is as well.

“I might be 34 but I still feel as fit as ever. I’m knocking out 90 minutes most weeks and on the GPS stats at the end of the game I’m in the high end of the running scale.

“I’m really fit. Whether the gaffer chooses to play me or not is his decision but I’m always ready to play.”

Graham’s impressive form so far this season came alongside fellow strike partner Zak Rudden but the former Rangers youngster decided to move on from Firhill last month as he joined relegation-threatened Premiership side Dundee.

Rudden’s departure paved the way for Alex Jakubiak’s move to Thistle and Graham has tipped the former Watford academy product to put his recent injury troubles behind him and help fire the club up the table.

He admitted: “I was the older player and I thought me and Zak had a great partnership. I actually felt he was a younger brother to me, if I’m honest, I took him under my wing and tried to guide him as best as I could.

“I wished him well before he left and I hope he does extremely well in that league. If he can keep Dundee up then great, but for Zak as a person he’s just a great lad.

“He has got great potential and he just needs to keep building on it.

“Alex has came in and fitted into the group seamlessly. He’s looked really good in training and he’s been honest with the boys that he needs regular game-time.

“He’s had his injuries in the past but he’s feeling really fit at the moment and he’s just dying to get out there and play more minutes.

“The manager believes he can get the best out of players. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but if you look at his overall percentage it’s on the high side, so I think Alex will do really well for us.”

Like the rest of his team-mates, Graham was left to watch Soccer Saturday last weekend after their trip to Arbroath was postponed due to weather concerns.

That has ensured Thistle’s already-congested fixture schedule has increased and Graham added: “It’s not ideal (having so many games stacked up) but we proved last season that we can go and do it when we played Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.

“We just need to get on with it as a group and I firmly believe we’ve got a good enough squad to do it.

“We knew the weather on Friday and Saturday morning wasn’t great and when we saw the pitch here we knew it was a bit touch and go.

“When you saw the heavy rain you knew there would be a pitch inspection and that there was a high chance the game could get called off.

“It is frustrating because your Saturday afternoon is then spent looking around at the other scores and it’s not really that enjoyable when you’re used to playing football at 3pm on a Saturday.”

Partick Thistle’s Player of the Month Awards for season 2021/22 are proudly sponsored by McCrea Financial Services - visit www.mccreafs.co.uk to find out more.