Finnie joins Partick
Partick have signed their second player in 24 hours by adding former Hamilton and Rangers right-back Ryan Finnie to their squad.
The 19-year-old Scotland youth international made five appearances for Accies before joining Rangers in March last year.
The defender joins Thistle until the end of the season and arrives after they signed Hibernian left-back Callum Booth on loan.
Also supplementing Alan Archibald's squad is defender Ben Richards-Everton, who returns from a loan spell at Airdrie with Liam Lindsay moving in the other direction until the end of the season.
Archibald's side take on St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership at Firhill on Friday night with the knowledge they can move five points off the top six and 13 points clear of the relegation play-off place.
And midfielder Gary Fraser feels that cushion could help the Jags produce their attractive brand of football for the rest of the campaign.
Fraser said: "Obviously it's a big game for us because if we win we can go a fair bit ahead.
"We do struggle for a bit of consistency but we know we are good enough to be in the Scottish Premiership and the way we play football is a lot better than most teams.
"Hopefully if we keep doing the right things then the consistency will come.
"The relegation fears are never away but if we can forget about the relegation zone and concentrate on trying to get in the top six then that will work for us instead.
"I think we are good enough to stay well clear of it.
"The aim for all the boys is to push for the top six. It would be fantastic if we got there.
"Without that fear we can really push on and play the football we know we can play. We are a good football team. A lot of people see that, the way we batter teams, the way we pass the ball about."
Meanwhile, St Mirren have handed Gary Teale the manager's job until the end of the season.
The former Scotland international has been in caretaker charge since Tommy Craig left on December 9.
A club statement read: "We are delighted to confirm that Gary Teale assisted by David Longwell will remain in charge of St Mirren Football Club until the end of the season.
"The board and hopefully the supporters will have noticed an improvement in performances during their short tenure.
"Gary and David are working extremely hard to bring in additional players to add to the squad before Monday's deadline and hopefully the hard work going on behind the scenes will transfer into more positive results on the pitch for the remainder of the season."
The confirmation comes amid continuing uncertainty over the future ownership of the club, who have been up for sale since 2009.
An English consortium had been in advanced talks with St Mirren and planned to appoint former Liverpool player David Thompson as manager but the club board pulled out of the deal and held talks with an Argentinian consortium, who moved into a strong position to take over.
The progress of that deal remains unclear but reports in Catalonia say that one of the group, laywer Ricardo Pini, is on the verge of pulling out of a deal to buy troubled Segunda Liga club Girona.
On the field, St Mirren continue their fight against relegation against Partick and defender Marc McAusland strongly shares the board's opinion that Teale and Longwell are instigating improvement.
Saints have still not won a league game at home or kept a clean sheet this season, but they have won two of their last three away games and can leapfrog Motherwell into 10th place if they win at Firhill.
McAusland said: "We have been playing quite well in the last three or four games and have picked up some points, but not quite as many as we should have.
"The boys are working hard under Tealy and Davie and are enjoying it. It's a wee bit different and we are working on a few more things. The boys are definitely reacting to what they are saying and hopefully we can pick up more points.
"From defence to the forward line we are breaking a lot quicker on teams and getting the ball up the park more quickly and moving it about a lot quicker than we had done in the past.
"We are working on different things in training and I think the boys are enjoying it a lot more. The boys are taking confidence from the way we are playing."
Source: PA
