FREDDIE FRANS hopes Partick Thistle can put their cup disappointment behind them to focus all their energies on making sure they avoid the drop. A late goal from Dundee United’s Scott Fraser was enough to settle a drab Scottish Cup fifth round tie at Tannadice on Saturday, a result that ends Thistle’s dreams of lifting the famous old trophy for the first time since 1921.

With the Jags mired in the increasingly scrappy battle to avoid the relegation play-off place, defender Frans knows there is no time for the players to feel sorry for themselves. Instead the big defender says it will be all eyes on this weekend’s tough encounter away to Hearts at Tynecastle as Alan Archibald’s side look to ease their worries by trying to extend the four-point gap between them and 11th placed Kilmarnock.

The Belgian said: “We don't want to get dragged back into the relegation picture. I think all the games coming up are very important. Even the Hearts and Aberdeen games, it's important we take something from them if we can. We're not on a bad run or anything like that. It's just bad luck that we lost this game because we wanted a cup run."

Manager Archibald surprised many by lining up with a three-man defence to try to counter United’s tactics but Frans said that wasn’t the reason behind Saturday’s loss. He added: “It was a bit strange at the beginning of the game getting used to it but I think in the end it worked out pretty well.

"Maybe we need to work more on going forward with that system. Okay, we didn't have a lot of time after the Motherwell game to prepare it but I think the experiment was a success.

“We adapted pretty well. There weren't that many chances in the game. It was a case of the team who scored the first goal would probably win it and that's how it proved.”

Gary Miller was one of those who had to adapt to the new set-up, the full-back becoming a wing-back for the day and asked to get up and down the right flank. Like Frans, he felt it was a tactical switch that worked well for the Jags.

He said: “It was something we have worked on in training but it is a role I really enjoyed. I felt we dealt with everything they threw at us and that is shown in the fact that I think they only had two shots. Having said that I don't think we created enough at the other end and I think that's what we need to learn. We tried to get forward as much as we could but things really weren't falling for us in the final third."

And like Frans, Miller hoped cup disappointment could be quickly set to one side as Thistle look to move on up the Premiership table. “Obviously we're all gutted not to be in the hat for the next round. I thought we created a few chances but probably didn't do enough to win the game. We now need to take this opportunity and really power on in the league, that has to be our focus now and we are determined to finish as high up the table as we possibly can. Cup runs are always great but that's over for this year and we just need to move on. We want to improve on last season's position and really challenge for that top six spot."

Saturday was Miller’s second successive appearance due to an injury to regular right-back Mustapha Dumbuya and he hopes a steady performance can lead to him featuring more as the season goes on. "I'm delighted to be back in the side,” he told the Thistle website. “I work hard and just make sure I'm fit to play every week. I've got back in today and I just need to focus on keeping my place and hopefully bedding into the side properly between now and the end of the season to help us finish as high in the league as we can."