Delight for Alan Archibald as Partick Thistle end wait to reach quarter-finals
The Firhill side progress to the next round following a 1-0 win at St Johnstone.
Alan Archibald saluted his Partick Thistle players and fans after the Jags reached the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-finals for the first time in nine years with a 1-0 win at St Johnstone.
Midfielder Adam Barton's seventh-minute goal was enough to give the visitors their fourth successive win at McDiarmid Park and take them into Sunday's draw.
Thistle's previous last-eight appearance came in 2008 and ended with a 2-0 defeat against Rangers at Firhill after a 1-1 draw at Ibrox.
I am delighted for the players and the fans,'' said the Jags boss.
They came in good numbers today and thankfully kept believing because it had been a long time since we got to a quarter-finals.
The win was for them and the players because we asked them to do a job today with a number of guys playing out of position so I am delighted by the result.
We are glad to be there. We will take whoever we get and go and enjoy it.''
The former Partick Thistle defender could not explain the Jags' recent success in Perth.
He said: It is strange because the results have reversed at Firhill, they have won two.
I don't know what it is. One thing, we scored the first goal which we did the last time we came up here.
That gave us confidence. We played with a different shape (3-4-3) today so it was important that we got the goal early on to give us the belief in that shape.''
Archibald was pleased to see Barton get the crucial goal, breaking into the box to side-foot a Steven Lawless cross past keeper Zander Clark, who had a couple of fine saves later.
He said: We asked him and Abdul (Osman) to get forward when we could so I was delighted to see it going in because their goalkeeper has made some great saves from us over the last few games.''
St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright bemoaned is side's slow start to the match.
He said: We lost the game in the first 20 minutes. We didn't start well.
It is 18 minutes before you make a tackle, you start to get a little bit concerned.
And really the goal comes from us in good possession, we give it away cheaply and they counter on us.
We had opportunities to make things happen but we didn't make it happen.
It is a frustrating afternoon for us but we emphasise the point, we have got to start the game better.
You can't give the away team something to hold on to and that's what we did.''