Barton values Thistle cup run
CUP competitions south of the border have lost their lustre as clubs prioritise league status in pursuit of Champions League riches or Premier League survival.
So former Coventry and Portsmouth player Adam Barton is delighted that the stature of the world’s oldest cup tournament remains undiminished.
The midfielder’s seventhminute strike secured Thistle a passport to the quarter-final for the first time since a replay defeat from Rangers nine years ago, not that the Englishman had been aware of that statistic going into the game at Perth.
While pressing for a top-six finish in the league remains the priority around Firhill, Barton is relishing a cup run.
‘I never really had a big cup run in England. Maybe third round,’ he admitted. ‘There is more of a buzz in the Scottish Cup. In England during my three years at Coventry, I played against Arsenal twice and Spurs once and they play reserve sides.
‘It’s good to get the experience if you are lower-league players but it’s nothing like up here where every team plays its best side and they go out to win the tie — that makes it a lot better.’
While Thistle have struggled to overcome Tommy Wright’s Saints on home turf, manager Alan Archibald has the knack of securing wins at McDiarmid Park, with four successive victories demonstrating why Perth fans now view visits from the Jags with apprehension.
Having secured an advantage, the visitors continued to pose a threat on the counter-attack and, but for two great saves from highly-regarded Zander Clark, their progress to the last eight could have been more comfortable.
Clark, however, was helpless when Barton slid a 12-yard shot beyond him in Thistle’s first attack, with Steven Lawless supplying the ammunition after Sean Welsh had intercepted a Steven MacLean pass.
‘If you’re a midfielder who can play centre-half, everyone thinks you’re a defensive midfielder. But I can go forward,’ said Barton.
Archibald was delighted with players asked to plug gaps created by injury and dedicated the win to nearly 900 travelling fans.
He said: ‘We had a different shape and it was important we got a lead early on to give the players belief.
‘I was delighted to see the goal going in because their keeper has made some great saves.’
Saints boss Wright admitted: ‘We lost the game in the first 20 minutes. We didn’t start well.’