Partick Thistle boss Jackie McNamara: It's time we broke our Ramsdens Cup duck

Oct 10 2012 By Gordon Parks

JACKIE McNAMARA has urged his Partick troops to put their Morton misery behind them by bagging a spot in the Ramsdens Cup Final.

Thistle’s unbeaten run ended on Saturday as Ton cruised to a 3-1 win at Cappielow but the Jags are still joint top of the First Division.

And with full focus now on the Ramsdens Cup semi-final against Cowdenbeath on Sunday, gaffer McNamara admits the incentive to get a result is huge.

He said: “The objective has always been to get ourselves in amongst the challenging pack and we are sitting at the top beside Dunfermline so I’m delighted with that.

“The Morton defeat underlines two things about this league. Both the difficulty of taking points in away games and also that sometimes things don’t go your way.

“We just need to dust ourselves down and regroup for Sunday’s game and try to get through to a final.

“I don’t know the last time Thistle reached a final and hopefully this will be our turn to get a break on the day. But we don’t need to be warned about just how difficult Cowdenbeath will make it for us.”

New recruit Paul Slane arrived on loan from Celtic in time to make a substitute appearance at Morton and McNamara is delighted to have him on board until the turn of the year.

He said: “It was great to get Paul in and I’m sure he has a role to play during the time he is with us.

“We switched off at key moments on Saturday and paid the price for that. Even after we had Hugh Murray sent off I believed we could go on and win the game but it wasn’t to be.”

Slane insists he can’t wait to make an impression with his new club and hopes the arrangement will suit everyone involved.

He said: “The Celtic manager Neil Lennon knows the Thistle manager and they felt that it was the best thing for myself and the club that I go out on loan.

“From what I’ve already seen there’s a very good team here.”