Hibernian v Partick: Balatoni fears Hibs revival

Partick Thistle's Conrad Balatoni looks ahead to his side's weekend Scottish Premiership match against Hibernian. Picture: SNS

Hibs have lost their last six matches and are without a win in 11 as the scramble to avoid the play-off place enters its final three games.

The Leith side’s 2-1 defeat to already-relegated Edinburgh rivals Hearts last week left Terry Butcher’s one point ahead of Kilmarnock, who currently occupy 11th place, level on points with Thistle.

“They are playing off the back of a derby defeat,” said 23-year-old defender Balatoni.

“They will want to show everyone what they really can do.

“A losing streak always has to come to an end. It is fact. They are due a win.

“As much as they maybe haven’t played great, they still have quality and they can still hurt teams.

“The gaffer has drilled it into us, what their weaknesses and strengths are, hopefully we can match their effort and commitment and produce a bit of quality on the day.”

Balatoni, who was born in Leeds but who started his career at Hearts, has all but given up trying to predict the post-split results between the bottom six clubs but wants Thistle to take care of their own destiny.

He said: “Anyone in the bottom six can beat anyone. Look at Hearts, they have gone on a ridiculous run of form and are taking points off everyone just now.

“Kilmarnock have beaten teams around them and now they have lost two on the bounce.

“So it is throwing up surprises but hopefully there won’t be any surprises on Saturday and we can get the three points.

“It is very tight but we have a bit of momentum, a win and a draw, and let’s hope we can continue that to get the vital win.

“A point is not the end of the world but you want to win and pull yourself away from the pack and hopefully guarantee safety in the next couple of games and it could be in our hands on Wednesday if we win on Saturday, depending on other results.”