Lee Bullen insists he's seeing enough fight in his new look Ayr side to be heartened ahead of the relegation run-in.
United lost out to a second half Brian Graham goal at Partick last night as they left Firhill empty handed.
But boss Bully reckons his troops showed more than enough to offer encouragement ahead of the scrap to come.
He said: "The boys are disappointed. Why? Because they know they know they were in the game.
"The margins between success and failure at the moment are so slim.
"And when you look at where my boys were, compared to the previous games against Thistle, there is miles of a difference.
"There was nothing in that game, a little break one way or the other makes the difference.
"I'm disappointed we lost the game but I can see resilience, I can see effort and a desire from the group.
"And as a coach when you see that, you're not overly disappointed because you know you're not far away."
He added: "Listen, ultimately it's another game gone and things are very tight down there.
"But we dust ourselves off and go again on Saturday against Dunfermline.
"The new lads came on and had an impact and looked positive, so they'll add plenty to us moving forward."
An even first half had seen both sides trade decent chances despite football being difficult on a terrible surface.
Former Ayr man Cammy Smith drew a good stop from Aidan McAdams when through on goal, with Thistle having loud appeals for a penalty turned down having felt he was pulled back before shooting.
United then should have grabbed the lead when a James Maxwell free kick found Sam Ashford - in for his first start - six yards out, but the striker couldn't get his shot away with only Jamie Sneddon to beat.
Moments later Ashford did test Sneddon with a low first time effort after being teed up by Mark McKenzie, and this time the keeper pulled off a brilliant save down to his right.
Thistle got the vital breakthrough early in the second half as Robbie Crawford's through ball appeared to deflect into the path of Graham and he arrowed in on goal to drive home a low finish.
Ayr then survived two massive penalty calls as ref Greg Aitken remained unmoved, much to the fury of the home support.
Bullen threw on new boys Blaine Rowe and Kerr McInroy in the last 20 minutes and both looked the part.
McInroy sent a shot over from the edge of the box before Sean McGinty had a late header tipped over by Sneddon as Thistle secured the points.
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