It looks like long serving Thistle striker James Marks may have played his last game for the Barrfields club.

This season's top scorer is on holiday and will miss Monday's Auchinleck Talbot fixture, but he has texted manager Stuart Davidson to say he won't be signing for Largs next season.

Marks started his Thistle career in 2004, and despite a move to Kilbirnie and Arthurlie midway through his career, returned to Largs where he has been a big presence. He has notched 81 goals for the club and made 251 appearances.

Stuart said: "James texted me a couple of weeks ago to say he wouldn't be signing. I have not had the chance to speak to him face to face, so I don't know if he is moving on to another club or not. I don't know yet."

"We are pretty short on numbers for the Auchinleck game, Creag Little is on holiday, Jamie McDonald is suspended, and there may be one or two others unavailable."

Auchinleck lost 2-1 in the Scottish Cup Final to Glenafton on Sunday, but the Thistle boss believes that Talbot will be wanting to finish the season on a high. It is a 7.30pm kick-off at Barrfields Park on Monday.

Stuart said: "I am sure Talbot will want to get their cup final on Sunday out of their system, and they have a semi final in midweek, and possibly a final this Saturday, so I am sure the Largs Thistle game will be the last thing on their minds at the moment. Everyone wants to win a game of football, and once the game starts on Monday."

The boss admits that it has been hard to keep the players motivated over seven weeks without a competitive game. He said: "It is a situation that should never have happened to any manager or club - it is really bad organisation and has to be sorted. I have been trying to keep the players enthusiastic over the past few months, but you can see that without a game of football at the end of the weeks some of them have not been bothered. We have been training Tuesday and Thursday this week, and we are playing one of the best junior teams for years and years, and you want to test yourselves against them.

"One of the things when we got promoted for me and (former manager) Bryan Slavin was looking forward to the Talbot game. We are not getting the game the way it should be and it does take some of the shine off it for me, but we just want to get a few more points on the table, and if we can finish with 21 points on the table that is something. I had some great years at Auchinleck, and have many happy memories from my playing time there. Our supporters have been great this season and kept supporting us even through our bad run of eight defeats at the start of the season. I am sure they will come out and support us on Monday night."