RYAN Edwards says that talk is cheap from the Partick Thistle players, and that it is time for their actions on the field to speak louder than their words off it.

The Australian midfielder has been mystified by the drop in performance levels from Thistle in the last two games, and particularly with the lack of a reaction in Saturday’s loss to Kilmarnock after defeat at Motherwell.

Edwards believes it is unacceptable for the Jags to raise their game against the bigger sides only to drop their standards for matches against sides of a similar stature, which he admits has happened in the last two matches.

“We spoke about getting a reaction and it didn’t happen,” Edwards said. “It was a terrible day all round and now we are playing catch-up.

“It’s all well and good saying we performed well against the bigger sides, but we needed to continue with those intensity levels and desire against the other teams too.

“It’s one thing to raise your game against a Celtic or a Rangers, but we have to do that throughout the whole season against teams we need to be beating.

“You want the win so desperately, but we seemed to drop the intensity, and mentally we have to stay strong.

“We’re all ready to fight. We’re in a relegation scrap now with the way we’ve started.

“We all shown our desire and intensity levels and how much we wanted to win against Celtic and Rangers, but then it comes to these games and you could see that as soon as the goal went in we dropped our heads.

“It was the whole team. The fans can see it and the staff can see it. It’s disappointing and we as players need to stand up and say that this isn’t good enough.

“We have to be better, it is as simple as that.”

Edwards is honest enough to admit that all of the Thistle players, himself included, have been way off the standards they have set themselves, but he isn’t sure why they are playing so poorly.

“It’s difficult to hit the nail on the head as to what is going wrong,” he said.

“When we’re performing well there are eight or nine players all on form, but at the minute we’ve got 10 or 11 players who aren’t in good form and the touch isn’t there.

“We have to stay positive and keep going. We’ve put to bed what has happened in the past two weeks, and we have to make sure we learn from it. We know what happened and how it happened, and now we have to put it right.”

The need for the Thistle players to pull their socks up and get some points on the board could hardly be more pressing if they want to avoid becoming detached at the foot of the table, with games against Dundee and Hamilton in the next week.

Edwards added: “The manager and Scotty [Paterson] both said today that we have all mulled over it on Sunday, and now it is a new week.

“We don’t forget about it, we learn from it, and move on.”