PARTICK Thistle midfielder Adam Barton does not have to look too far away for a reminder that it’s not always the fancied teams that lift the William Hill Scottish Cup.
The 26-year-old, pictured, scored the only goal of the game against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Saturday to take the Maryhill club into the quarter-final draw for the first time in nine years.
Thistle team-mate Danny Devine won the trophy with Inverness in 2015 and Barton said: “We have spoken to Danny a lot about it.
“Inverness knocked out a few very big teams along the way.
“It is about who turns up on the day and if we keep going into the games with the winning mentality then hopefully we will go a long way.
“Every game we go into, whether it is the cup or league, we always give it our best. You saw how the lads reacted after the final whistle. We were delighted to get another win.”
Barton scored the crucial goal when he side-footed a Steven Lawless pass past St Johnstone keeper Zander Clark after only seven minutes, but he put Thistle’s fourth successive win at McDiarmid Park down to a disciplined and organised defensive display. Barton said: “We knew what we needed to do and I felt we did it really well. We knew it was down to the way we defended, as we know we have quality going forward."
St Johnstone defender Brian Easton told Saints TV: “We felt we could get a goal in the second half but all credit to Partick Thistle.
They got players behind the ball and we couldn’t break them down. It is so disappointing to be out the cup. It wasn’t our day.
“We will be working on finish as high up the table as we can now.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here