THE opening wasn't quite pitch perfect – but there could still be plenty to sing about for Partick Thistle this season.
Jackie McNamara's side got their campaign off to a winning start, but were left frustrated as a dogged Clyde and sticky Recreation Park surface slowed them in their tracks.
With work to install a synthetic pitch at Broadwood still ongoing, the Glasgow derby between the Jags and Jim Duffy's side headed to Alloa as the new season got underway.
It was to prove a low-key affair, with Thistle dominating, yet unable to find the breakthrough until a late intervention from substitute Kris Doolan secured a 1-0 victory.
Despite impressing at Recreation Park in pre- season, McNamara's side never got to grips with the artificial pitch in Clackmannanshire.
The Jags were certainly not at their best against their Irn-Bru Third Division opponents and striker Steven Lawless admits it was a relief to finally book their place in today's second-round draw.
He said: "It was hard to go and play on that surface, I don't think it helped anybody.
"I felt that made it harder for us to pass the ball as we would have liked. You could see in the first half, especially, that we couldn't really get the ball moving and get our shots away.
"It happened a couple of times to me, and a few of the other boys couldn't get their shots away like they would have wanted to.
"The ball was sticking on the surface and we couldn't get it out of our feet. It was just about getting through at the end of the day.
"The keeper didn't gather the shot and Dools was there to stick it away thankfully.
"It is just experience on his part, he knows where to be and he was in the right place at the right time.
"You can see the strength of the squad we have when we are able to bring on guys that have scored the amount of goals he has."
The former Motherwell man was joined in the starting line-up by his three fellow summer arrivals for Thistle's maiden competitive clash of the campaign and came close to netting a first-half free-kick as McNamara's side piled on the pressure.
Defender Aaron Muirhead gave another assured performance alongside skipper Alan Archibald at the heart of the defence, with midfield duo Sean Welsh and Hugh Murray again impressive for the Jags.
Wins over Alloa, Ayr, Celtic and Everton in pre-season have seen expectations rise among the Firhill faithful, but Lawless admits the time has come for McNamara's side to really turn on the style.
He said: "It is good to get the goals in pre-season, but this is where the action really starts. It is good to get the goals, but I want to be getting them in the competitive games. It has been great.
"I have got a few games under my belt and it has been easy to settle in as well, the boys have been superb.
"Hopefully we can get a good result against Forfar this weekend in the cup and we can go into the league with a couple of wins behind us."
Firhill manager McNamara said: "It should have been a lot more comfortable, to be honest.
"I thought that we were guilty of a little slackness in the final third, especially when the opposition are camping in. It's important to try and get more shots in and the value of that can be seen with the goal we scored."
While the result was to prove disappointing for Clyde, there were plenty of positives for boss Jim Duffy, who was pleased with the efforts of his battling Bully Wee.
He said: "Thistle deserved to win, there is no question about that. It was a real tough test for us and we knew that.
"From my point of view, the commitment from the players was tremendous, they really stuck at it.
"There were a few of them running on empty with 15 minutes to go, which is understandable, but they kept at it until the end."