91Èȱ¬

Partick Thistle midfielder Steven Lawless reckons they should have aspirations for a top-six Scottish Premiership finish next season.

The Firhill side guaranteed their top-flight status by beating St Mirren, but Lawless wants them to aim higher.

"I think this year we feel a bit like we've under-achieved," the 24-year-old Lawless told 91Èȱ¬ Scotland.

"If we can keep the majority of the boys and maybe add one or two then I'm sure we can look up."

Thistle were promoted from the second tier in 2013 and currently sit eighth.

"We've not been consistent enough in the middle part of this season and had a little dip in form," said Lawless.

"If we'd missed that out, we maybe could've got in the top six."

Lawless is one of more than 10 Thistle players out of contract at the end of this season.

Jags manager Alan Archibald is keen to renew several of the players' deals but is resigned to losing right-back Stephen O'Donnell, who wants to further his career in England.

"It's a good bunch of boys and a mixture of characters and they all gel well," said Lawless, who began his career at Motherwell.

"There's obviously a couple of wee arguments, but I think that's quite good. A few boys try and get under each other's' skins and I think that's good in a football team.

"If you try to wind people up in training, it adds a bit more to it - you're enjoying it and under a bit of pressure."

The clean-sheet Thistle kept against St Mirren on Saturday was the club's sixth in their last 10 matches.

Manager Alan Archibald, who is assisted by Scott Paterson, is rarely one to speak at length to the media, but Lawless insists it is a different story away from the cameras.

"It must just be with the press he's a man of few words because in training he speaks a lot," said Lawless.

"He helps a lot of the younger boys and the defensive record must be down to him and Scott, because the two of them were great defenders.

"We've not been conceding a lot of goals and that's given the players up top a lot of freedom to go and create chances.

"He's quite down to earth, so that's a good thing, but if you're not performing well he's not the quietest then; he can blow his gasket as well."