THE road to Hampden. And by that, we mean the symbolic journey to potential Scottish Cup glory, not the actual trundle along the congested B766 to the stadium via Aikenhead Road.

It’s a not a route Partick Thistle would be familiar with it anyway.

“It’s a long time since we had a cup success and every year we get this thrown at us,” said Alan Archibald, the Firhill club’s manager.

You have to dust down the archives and flick your way back to 1921 to find dog-eared sheets of newsprint documenting Thistle’s last Scottish Cup success.

This weekend, the Jags will continue on that road to the national stadium when they battle it out with St Johnstone for a place in the quarter-finals.

“The players, staff, everybody is desperate for a cup run and we want to do something about it,” added Archibald, who made a cup final appearance himself for Dundee United over a decade ago.

“It annoys me when people keep bringing it up. I think it annoys everybody the longer it goes on.

“It’s a great relief away from the pressures of the league so I think all the players look forward to it.”

Thistle reached the last four of the Scottish Cup back in 2002 while they reached the final of the Ramsdens Cup in 2013 only to lose on penalties to Queen of the South. Almondvale, the venue for that showdown, may not stir the senses quite like Hampden but beggars can’t be choosers.

“We had a wee taste of it in the Ramsdens Cup in terms of the experience of just getting to a final,” reflected Archibald.

“You could see what it meant to the fans that day because they turned out in massive numbers,” he added.

St Johnstone, who beat Thistle on league duty last week, won the Scottish Cup in 2014 and Archibald reckons his side should use that as inspiration as they look to conjure their own silver lining.

“Other provincial clubs have shown it can be done,” he said. “A few have won it and a few others have had really good runs, so it’s irritating that we’ve not been part of that.

“The team we’ll be playing are an example. Not only did St Johnstone win the Cup they were renowned for good cup runs all the time.

“There’s no reason why we can’t emulate teams like St Johnstone and Inverness by winning it.”