Partick Thistle's season is not over, insists boss Ian McCall

Mar 19 2010 By Fraser Wilson

MANAGER Ian McCall has rubbished claims that Partick Thistle have nothing left to play for this season.

Ahead of Saturday's trip to relegation-threatened Morton, McCall has set two minimal targets for his faltering Jags side.

First they must beat last season's total of 55 points to prove progress has been made at Firhill.

And second, he wants his troops to at least gain a top four spot thus avoiding a third round entry to next season's Scottish Cup.

McCall admits promotion will be "very, very hard" to achieve after a run of just two wins from the Jags' last nine matches.

But that hasn't dampened his enthusiasm for the job.

He said: "It's a strange league and you never know what could happen but we know it's going to be very, very hard now.

"I know that a lot of people will look at our position and think that we don't have much to play for but that isn't the case at all.

"We want to better, if possible, the tally of 55 points that we got last year and obviously finish as high up the league as we can. If you finish in the top four you don't need to enter the following season's Scottish Cup quite as early."

Veteran defenders Greg Shields and Martyn Corrigan will miss the trip to Cappielow along with broken leg victim Jackie McNamara.

Otherwise McCall has a full squad from which to choose with new striker Martin Grehan in line to play a part at some point during the afternoon.