Raith Rovers boss Dougie Imrie on why he thinks "poor decision" cost chance of victory at Partick Thistle

Mullin – on as a 33rd-minute replacement for injured Paul Hanlon whose aerial challenge had seen him sustain a facial injury later assessed in hospital – hit the showers early after an incident which Imrie reckoned could have cost Raith getting three points.

“I thought it was a really entertaining game,” the Stark’s Park gaffer told Raith TV post match. “I think it was eight bookings and a red card. So, yeah, an entertaining game for the neutrals.

"But we wanted to come here and win. That was our motto before the game.

"We said if we can't win it, we certainly won't lose it. And it's a valuable point.

"And why I say that is because we played a large part of the second half with a man down.

"A really poor decision for Josh. He'll need to learn from that.

"Josh getting sent off gives somebody an opportunity next week. But it was really naive from Josh, and that's my biggest frustration today because I think 11 v 11 we may have won here today.

"Josh puts his team-mates under a lot of pressure with us going a man down against a very free-flowing Patrick Thistle team, especially at home. But listen, I thought the boys today were outstanding again.”

When asked about Hanlon’s injury and the defensive reshuffle required after the Hibernian legend went off, Imrie added: “Well, he's away to hospital, I've not heard the news yet. Just precautionary, hopefully.

"He took a bang on his face. So we're just ruling out any fractures to his cheek or his jaw.

"And hopefully that comes back clear. But it was certainly a sore one for him today.

"We hope Paul's OK. He's been a really good player since he's come to Raith Rovers. But these things give other people an opportunity.

"I've worked with Darragh (O’Connor) previously. So I knew Darragh could slip into left centre-back.

"And I thought Jordan Doherty was outstanding at right centre-back. He slipped in there seamlessly.

"It’s a good thing when you've got players that can do that, that they just slip in as if they've been there all season. So all credit to Jordan.

"I thought him and Darragh were really, really good for large parts of the first half and then certainly the full second half.

"You've seen when we went a man down, Partick changed their shape to more of a 4-2-4.

"They just put their two wingers right up and put two strikers through the middle. I thought they stood up to everything.”

Saturday’s stalemate in Maryhill means Raith move onto 24 points from 19 matches in fifth place, now three points behind fourth-placed Ayr United who occupy the final Premiership play-off spot after winning 3-2 at Dunfermline Athletic.

Second-placed Thistle are now five points behind leaders St Johnstone who thrashed Morton 5-0.

Partick Thistle: Clarke, Reading, O'Reilly, Ashcroft, McPherson (Logan 90), Turner (Samuel 64), Smyth, Fitzpatrick (Lawless 79), Letsosa, Chalmers, Watt.

Subs not used: Budinauckas, Dolan, Martin, McArdle, McBeth.

Raith Rovers: Rae, Stevenson, Hanlon (Mullin 33), O'Connor, Rowe, Matthews, Doherty, Easton (Chin 79), Brown, McMullan (Nsio 68), Hamilton (Gentles 80).

Subs not used: Glavin, Montagu, Wilson.

Referee: Ross Hardie

Crowd: 3,682