THE Scottish Cup preparations of Partick Thistle for tomorrow's fourth round tie with Dunfermline have suffered a major blow.

THE Scottish Cup preparations of Partick Thistle for tomorrow's fourth round tie with Dunfermline have suffered a major blow.

Top scorer Liam Buchanan is OUT with a groin injury that has been troubling him for a month.

The loss of the 11-goal striker has left the Thistle frontline looking woefully short, with target man Paul Keegan still a week away after a pre-Christmas knee op and Mark Roberts the only fit recognised striker.

Boss Ian McCall said: "Over the last month or so, Liam has had to nurse a groin problem that has greatly restricted his performance level and we are now at the stage where he must rest it.

"While the league has always been our priority, a Scottish Cup tie against Dunfermline has handed us a real chance to make the next round and hopefully land a big name tie.

"In that respect you want your best players and Liam certainly falls into that bracket.

"Unfortunately Paul Keegan is still a week away, so we may have to cut our cloth accordingly when it comes to our forward deployment."

That begs the question, will McCall go with Marko in the lone striker's role in which he impressed at St Johnstone for the first 60 minutes or so of the set- back at McDiarmid Park?

Whatever, he will not have the services of Stephen McKeown. He is cup-tied, having been signed from Airdrie on the opening day of the transfer window.

Also, Dawser, who started as a striker at Broomfield, has failed to recover from the hamstring injury which marred his debut with Clyde on January 2.

England Youth cap Stephen Connor, back for another month's loan from Everton, could be used just off Roberts.

But such is the dearth of frontmen at Firhill right now that one of the Thistle strike fledglings may even find their way onto the bench.

McCall will continue his efforts to sign a striker for the fourth round clash, but the clock is firmly against him.

But the Firhill gaffer has not given up all hope of an eleventh hour addition making it in for the Pars.

After a six-game string of promising Firhill performances failed to yield anything more than single point returns in the league, McCall is desperate to win ugly in the cup.

The Firhill gaffer said: "I don't care how we make the next round as long as we can get there. We played some great football at Firhill before Christmas but consistently failed to get the reward our efforts deserved. No more so than in the 1-1 draw with Dunfermline.

"The Scottish Cup, even against a team from the same division, does give you something different and we are looking at this one as a real opportunity.

"That said, given their recent form - I don't think they have lost in their last seven - and the fact they have a squad full of SPL players, Dunfermline are now playing to their true ability. So we are under no illusions as to how tough it will be to get past them.

"In that respect it is vital the supporters get behind the lads right from the start. Over the last couple of seasons the club have made the quarter-finals and had some great days out for the support.

"We want to experience more of that this season and the fans have a big part to play in making that happen."