Partick Thistle Football Club

Come 7:45pm this evening those eleven Thistle players fortunate enough to be picked by manager Ian McCall to start tonight’s match have the opportunity to see their names written in bold across the pages of the history of Partick Thistle Football Club.

The odds are against a Thistle victory tonight. One bookies lists Thistle at 9-1 to win tonight and at 200-1 to win the competition altogether. However where there is belief there is hope and there is a calm determination that Thistle, who gave Rangers a real fright in last season’s Scottish Cup (pictured - the celebrations following Damon Gray's goal at Ibrox), can create a major shock tonight.

Manager Ian McCall was certainly looking forward to the tie when he spoke to www.ptfc.co.uk

“There is no great level of expectation on us to win this game and as a consequence there is no pressure on us to do so. We are fully aware just how tough a task it will be to beat Rangers but the thing that we will be stressing to the players is that there is always a chance of winning a football match.”

“Drawing Rangers in the cup is a big financial boost for the Club. That though counts for nothing when the game starts. As we did in the Scottish Cup last season we want to enjoy the occasion and the best way to do that is by being competitive on the pitch.”

Not unsurprisingly Steven Lennon, on loan at Firhill from Rangers, won’t be allowed to feature in tonight’s match and Alan Archibald and Liam Buchanan remain on the injured list. Earlier this week Gary Harkins, scorer of the first goal against Morton at the weekend, was rated at 50/50.

Thistle can expect to face a full strength Rangers side tonight. Speaking to his Club’s official website Rangers manager Walter Smith commented;

“We don’t have the same fixture congestion that we had last year so I won’t be making too many changes from the side that beat Motherwell at the weekend.”

One player certain not to be included against Thistle tonight is Lee McCulloch who carries forward a one match ban from last season’s competition. Charlie Adam and Kyle Lafferty are expected to be drafted into the Rangers squad.

Tonight’s tie will be the 11th League Cup meeting between the two teams, the most recent taking place at Firhill in August 1991 when Rangers edged Thistle out by two goals to nil.

In general Rangers hold the upper hand over Thistle in the League Cup. Of the previous 10 League Cup encounters Rangers have won seven to Thistle’s two with one match drawn.

Thistle one the very first League Cup match between tonight’s two teams. The occasion was the 1953 Semi-Final at Hampden where just a shade under 50,000 saw Thistle win 2-0. Thistle also won a Sectional tie at Ibrox 3-0 in 1957.

Thistle’s last win over Rangers was a 3-0 Premier League victory at Firhill in 1993. Ray Farningham, Grant Tierney and current Assistant Manager Gerry Britton scoring the three Thistle goals on memorable night at Firhill.

All of which brings us full circle. The Thistle team of 1993 with their 3-0 win wrote their own chapter in Thistle’s history. Is it the turn of their 2008 counterparts tonight?

Thistle Stats

Current Form - Last Five Games
W D L F A
3 1 1 7 4

Scorers Season 2008/2009
Damon Gray 4
Gary Harkins 4
Stephen McKeown 4
Ian Maxwell 3
Scott Chaplain 2
Simon Donnelly 1
Paul Paton 1
Mark Roberts 1
John Robertson 1
Chris Turner 1
Marc Twaddle 1

Last Game
First Division
Partick Thistle 2, Morton 1

Rangers Stats

Current Form – Last Five Games
W D L F A
4 1 0 11 5

Scorers Season 2008/2009
Kris Boyd 3
Kenny Miller 2
Daniel Cousin 1
Steven Davis 1
Kevin Lafferty 1
Pedro Mendes 1
Nacho Novo 1
Kevin Thomson 1
Andrius Velicka 1
David Weir 1

Last Game
Premier League
Rangers 2, Motherwell 1

Last Meeting
Scottish Cup Quarter-Final Replay
Sunday April 13th 2008
Partick Thistle 0, Rangers 2
Teams
Thistle: Tuffey, Storey (Murray), Twaddle, Donnelly (McKinlay), Robertson, Kinniburgh, Chaplain, Rowson, Gray, Roberts (Keegan), Harkins
Rangers: McGregor, Whittaker, Weir, Cuellar, Smith, Dailly, Burke, Thomson, Boyd, Novo (Cousin), Naismith (McCulloch)
Scorers
Rangers: Novo (26), Burke (38)
Crowd: 9,909

Match Details
Co-Operative Insurance Cup Third Round
Partick Thistle v Rangers
Kick-off: 7:45pm

Prices
Adults £15
Concessions £10
Tickets, for home fans only, are available from the Club offices up to 5.30pm.
Programme £2.50

Thistle fans are reminded that the Aitken Suite Supporters Bar will not be open this evening.

Match Officials
Referee: Steve Conroy
Assistant Referees: John Gilmour & Brian McGarry
Fourth Official: Brian Winter