After a week-long training camp in the pleasant climes of Marbella, it was back to the auld claes and porridge yesterday for Blair Spittal and his Partick Thistle team-mates in the snow shrouded bleakness of Glasgow. But who needs the Costa del Sol when you’ve got the Toryglen indoor pitches?

Following a shift in the shadow of the national stadium, Thistle will embark on the road to Hampden this weekend when they take on Queen of the South in a tricky William Hill Scottish Cup encounter.

Spittal’s own Scottish Cup journey took him down a largely downbeat route. He missed a penalty in the semi-final shoot-out for Dundee United against Hibernian in 2016 as the Tannadice side lost out in the last-four showdown. United were subsequently relegated at the end of that campaign and Spittal is keen to ensure that doesn’t happen to him again with Thistle.

The 22-year-old said: “That semi-final is one memory that sticks in my mind. It would be nice to have a better one with Thistle and if we can go on a decent Cup run that would be good.

“It was a tough season with United that year. Going down at the end of it was the worst feeling in the world. The cup run was a bonus and brightened the season up a bit but when you get relegated you can’t say it brightened it up too much.

“We’ve not spoken about relegation here at Thistle and hopefully that doesn’t happen. We are all staying positive.

“Our home form over the last month or two has been good. We still need to find that balance and pick up points on the road. Fortunately, we were never cut adrift and we managed to pick up points from the teams around us. That kept us in touching distance and that last game against Ross County was a huge positive to take into 2018.”

Since arriving from Dundee United in the summer, Spittal has contributed seven goals to the Thistle cause. Having ended 2018 with that vital win over rivals in peril Ross County, Thistle, who still occupy the relegation play-off spot, head into 2018 with a spring in their steps. Spittal is keeping his feet on the ground, though.

“The manager has warned us not to get carried away,” he added. “We want to bring as many teams as we can down there and continue to move up ourselves.

“It’s good we are within six points of the top six. You never know what can happen. But it’s important to stay focussed. We are still in the play-off spot and getting out of that has to be the first priority.”