Thistle boss Sandy MacLean has urged his young troops to capitalise on their Scottish Cup exploits, and now gain their first league win.

It is a 2pm kick-off at Ravenscraig Stadium in Greenock for the crunch league clash.

The Barrfields side will be hoping to take their cup form into the league, but face a tough challenge against a side who will be smarting after a surprise 4-0 reversal to Newtongrange Star on Saturday.

“We won’t read anything into that result,” said Sandy, “and by all accounts, Greenock played very well, and the score flattered Newtongrange who are a top side. This fixture was always going to be one of the toughest for us, specially given that over the years, we have taken a lot of players from the Greenock and Port Glasgow areas.

“You could argue that this is going to be like our derby this season - it is only up the road, and although it cannot be classed in the same region, it has all the ingredients of a typical derby fixture.” Thistle will be without Creag Little who is still on holiday, and Stevie Kyle, who is in crutches, but has left hospital. Both forwards Kevin Struthers and Willie McClure, and full-back Mark Murray are still missing due to long term injuries.

Iain Fisher’s suspension will not kick in until after the Greenock match, and is set to miss two matches, and may appeal the decision which was deemed highly controversial on Saturday.

“In the cup matches this season, we have proved that there is quality there in the ranks,” said Sandy, “but it is about getting that consistent level of performance. We have won two on the spin, but the Greenock game is of enormous proportions for us. We need to win that, and then we can point to momentum; we want to get three wins on the trot.” “We are where we are and it is time for the players and coaching staff to earn our corn and get out of this.” Talking about the Sauchie victory, Sandy said: “I thought we played very well, and although at times we were under the cosh, I felt in the end we were relatively comfortable, even when we were down to ten men. I don’t think we had one failure in the side. To me, Iain Fisher won the ball clean as a whistle. The referee’s interpretation was that he was not in control of his body leaving the ground. I understand the rule, but surely you are doing away with the art of tackling which is exactly what he did.” * Largs Thistle enjoyed a successful Race Night fundraiser on Saturday evening, with a total of £700 raised for the club.