Brian Graham has been there, done it. Now he's got the t-shirt.

"100 not out," it read, as the Partick Thistle player/co-manager took the rapturous acclaim from the ecstatic away support at Somerset Park on Friday night.

Thistle strip over his head, the message loud and clear and a moment to remember after his two goals on the night turned the Scottish Premiership play-off quarter-final tie around to sink Ayr United as Graham made it a century of goals in Thistle colours.

"The kit man made it for me," the 37-year-old striker says. "He said, what do you want on it? And I said, 'a hundred not out'. He said, 'right, no bother'.

"So he'd made it up and he's like, every week, 'do you want to put it on? Do you want to put it on?' I was like, 'no, no'. And then, at half-time, I actually said to him, 'Macca, give me that top'."

By this time, Graham had already levelled the tie in the first half with a back-post header to notch goal number 99.

"It was roasting, it was a long sleeved under armour," he recalls. "So I put it on and I felt claustrophobic. I was like, 'I'm too warm'.

"So into the shower and I see the club doctor and I was like, 'take those scissors, please cut these sleeves off'.

"He's cutting the sleeves off in the showers and the ref's banging the door and the boys are shouting, 'Brian, where are you?' I was like, 'give me a minute, I'm in the toilet'.

"They didn't have a clue what I was doing. I was in the shower area putting this top on, cutting the sleeves off it before I'm back out for the second half. And I was just like, 'give me one chance to go and get this goal and get us through the next round'.

"And the manner that happened, how late in the game it was, it was special, that's for sure."

Depending on how you look at it, Thistle could now go two ways after defeating Ayr 2-1 on aggregate.

A lot is made of the rigours of teams trying to make it to the top flight - and rightly so given the number of intense games they need to play.

Less is said about the bursts of adrenaline that clearly come from those moments never to be forgotten.

"I didn't get to sleep if I'm being really honest," Graham admits.

"I think half past four maybe, the time I went to bed. I was just sitting wide awake, actually watched the full game back again to try to pick bits where we can get better for the next game as well and picking little pointers out of it.

"In the manner it happened, for that occasion to score 99 and then 100 for myself personally - I could pinch myself.

"But obviously it's not about me, it's about the club and the players that try to get to the semi-final. The way it happened, on that occasion it was obviously a special moment for myself as well, seeing your family there.

"My dad, I probably think he was a wee bit emotional when I went over there and gave him a cuddle at the end. He's not really an emotional man, so it meant a lot to him as well."

Despite the rigours, despite the adrenaline, Graham insists the old body is holding up well.

"As fresh as a daisy," he insists as he prepares for Tuesday's semi-final first leg against Livingston at Firhill.

Livi manager David Martindale believes his side have the slight advantage, given the break they have enjoyed since their last game – a 1-0 defeat by Thistle on the final day of the Championship season proper.

However, Graham is not so sure.

"They'll be the fresher of the two teams, that's for sure," he admits. "But, don't forget, we've been down this road before.

"Livingston were the form team right up to the last day of the season for the last quarter. Then we beat them. Now they've had a week off. Now they need to restart again, whereas we have not stopped.

"Our momentum is carrying us into the game. We're coming off the back of a huge high on Friday night. We're ready to go."

Football works in funny ways. Should Thistle make it past Livingston, they could well face Ross County in a repeat of that incredible Premiership play-off final from two seasons ago. The Staggies are currently second bottom of the Premiership with two games to go.

Leading 3-0 on aggregate with only 20 minutes remaining, Thistle managed to throw it all away as County staged one of the great comebacks in the history of Scottish football back in June 2023 to preserve their top-flight status courtesy of penalty kicks.

The memory still burns deep within for Graham, as it does for all of a Thistle persuasion.

"That's going to stick with me the rest of my days, it's as simple as that," he adds.

"It was a horrendous day. It hurts. It still hurts. It will never go away.

"But we're giving ourselves a chance again. We've found ourselves in the semi-final again. Last year, we lost on penalties to Raith Rovers.

"Your luck's got to change sometime. Why can't it be now?"