Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald admits he’s no longer a fan of the Betfred Cup as he tries to piece together an injury-hit squad.

The Firhill side host St Mirren tomorrow and the Jags boss is sweating over the fitness of three key players.

Abdul Osman, Callum Booth and new signing Niall Keown all missed Saturday’s draw with Livingston while Gary Fraser and Mustupha Dumbuya are long-term absentees.

Archibald said: “I was for it initially but when you get a few injuries it puts you off.

“Last week we only had ten senior outfield players, young James Penrice started and we had four kids on the bench.

“Stuart Bannigan played 90 minutes even though he’s just back from a long-term injury but that’s what you’ve got to do, it hits you hard if you’ve got a few injuries at the start of the season.”

Archibald revealed he is hopeful of welcoming back at least one of the three who sat out last weekend as Thistle look to kick-start their cup campaign.

The clash with St Mirren will pit the Thistle boss against another of Scotland’s brightest young coaches in Jack Ross, with the 39-year-old looking forward to an exciting encounter.

He said: “It should be a good game, it’s two teams with a similar style who like to pass the ball.

“I think Jack’s done a brilliant job at St Mirren, there’s a lot of Premier League standard players in that squad so it will be a really tough fixture.

“We’ve got to go for it, we lost out on penalties last week which means Livingston are in the driving seat in the group so we need to go out and win the game.”

After watching his threadbare line-up drop points to Championship opposition, the Jags boss expressed the need for at least three re-enforcements to arrive at Fihill.

But Archibald conceded that he would face stiff competition from other Premiership sides when attempting to land transfer targets.

He said: “We’re all after the same players. You have to use everything you can to sell the club to players because money across all the teams in the bottom half of the table is probably similar.

“Selling points for us are that we have training facilities and are based in Glasgow, or also what we achieved last year in terms of league position.

“We got Niall Keown and Blair Spittall in, but with these injuries and Liam Lindsay moving on things have changed – we were comfortable until then and with the Betfred Cup coming around so quickly it puts added pressure on you.

“But our main priority just now is getting people back, we wouldn’t be as desperate for new signings if we had guys fit again.”

Archibald believes his club’s top-six finish last season was key in attracting the currently sidelined Keown, and also confirmed the club were in talks with a number of other players.

However, having been forced to turn to youth to bolster his squad at the weekend, the man who made over 250 appearances for Thistle said there could be opportunities for new stars to emerge.

Archibald added: “We’ve had young players with us for pre-season, young James Penrice started on Saturday with Callum Booth being out and Kevin Nesbit got on as well so it’s a chance for them.

“You see it with a lot of clubs in pre-season, it’s a chance for boys to get in the team and it’s down to them whether they grab it or not.”