Thistle manager Sandy MacLean has called on his side for a positive reaction following the disappointment of throwing away a two goal lead at Pollok.

The Barrfields men head to Valefield Park at 2pm on Saturday in defence of their Ayrshire Weekly Press Cup, and the boss believes it is the perfect game to bounce back.

“It is not easy after the manner of our defeat,” said Sandy, “But my job is to lift the players for next week. I am hoping for a positive reaction from the players. Kilbirnie will be smarting as we have beaten them twice, and I don’t feel we got the credit we deserved for these victories, so it has got the makings of a smashing game. There will be changes.” Defender Barry McLaughlin looks set to return to the mix after missing out due to injury last week, although forward James Marks is still a few weeks away from recovery after his recent knee operation. Silky playmaker Kevin Struthers played on despite picking up an ankle injury in the first half at Pollok, and may be doubtful. And Grant Weir could be set to return to the number one’s jersey after missing out against Pollok. Midfielder Graham Muir won his recent appeal in front of the SJFA following a harsh red card in the Scottish Cup replay agains Kilsyth.

“There is a strong element of pride after winning the Ayrshire Cup last season, and we want to hold on to it for as long as we can,” said Sandy, “We probably surprised everyone last season with beating Meadow away 4-0 before winning the final against Cumnock 3-0. For anyone who tells oyu it is not worth winning, I beg to differ, and it was the catalyst to our promotion play-off victory.” The Thistle boss has urged his players to get the result they are looking for to thank the supporters. Sandy said: “I hope we can do it for the supporters. They were loud and proud on Saturday during the match, and we know how disappointed they were at the end of the game, because we could hear them. There was nobody more disappointed than the players and the management. It will hopefully be a valuable lesson for the younger players that sometimes you have to spoil the game at times, you can’t just go toe to toe for 90 minutes. There is always a period in the game when you are not in charge, and you need to see these periods out. We did that in the first half on Saturday, and scored two excellent goals, but we didn’t do that in the second half. The annoying thing about Pollok’s first two goals is that it is something we have worked on in training to cut out the crosses, and we were doing that in the first half. However, it is now history, and we are looking to pick things up. I have every faith in the players. It has made things more difficult in terms of the league, as the Arthurlie and Pollok games were the two games we had targeted as we must do well in. We now need to look to get a surprise result against one of the big teams and that makes it more difficult as they have a lot more resources than we do.” * This year’s Sportsmen’s dinner will be held on Saturday 10 May at Inverclyde Sports Centre. Speakers will include Murdo MacLeod and John Rowbotham. For details on tickets, contact Don McKillop on 675405.