Friday 10th February, 2017 at 4:36pm
Thistle return to cup duty this Saturday as the Jags bus heads to Perth to take on St Johnstone in the fifth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup. Steven Lawless is one of the few current Thistle players to have played in the 2013 Ramsdens Cup Final and he know only too well what any kind of cup run can do for a club.
Speaking exclusively to ptfc.co.uk, Steven said: “Being involved in a cup run is great for any team an I think everyone at the club just now wants to extend our stay in the William Hill Scottish Cup for as long as possible this season.
“I remember the Ramsdens final and it was a great day, until the result right enough, but it brought a huge buzz to the club and you could definitely see that in the number of supporters who came out to back us at Almondvale.”
No matter how much desire there is around the club Steven knows that St Johnstone will be a tough nut to crack.
“Obviously we played them only 10 or so days ago and didn’t get the result we wanted. We know exactly how they like to play and we just need to go out there and match them. If they are able to go a goal up it can be very difficult to break them down but we’ve done it before so it isn’t the be all and end all.
“We all have some great memories from the last time up at McDiarmid when big Abz scored the last minute winner and we have a decent record up there in recent years so there is nothing for us to fear. If we go out and perform as we all know that we can then I we should be able to book our place in the next round. It will definitely be a tough shift though – no doubt about it.”
Despite the team struggling to get results since returning from the winter break Lawless knows that the standard of performance has not been rewarded with the points the team have perhaps deserved.
“I definitely feel we have been a bit unlucky recently but points on the table don’t lie and, one way or the other, we need to start getting the wins on the board. We had a good run before Christmas and it’s amazing how that confidence breeds results. It’s a good, strong dressing room though and we stay positive.
“The manager always tells us not to get too high when we win and not to get too low when we lose and that is very much the approach we take. We’ll keep working hard between games and I am more than confident that the goals and results will follow.”
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