STEVEN LAWLESS hopes Inverness Caley's attacking approach will suit Partick Thistle's forward thinking as they bid for Scottish Cup success this afternoon.

Alan Archibald's side head into the Firhill fixture on the back of a hugely disappointing display against St Mirren eight days ago.

The Jags had netted seven goals in their previous two Premiership games, but fired a blank against the Buddies as they blew another chance to climb the top-flight table.

Thistle have struggled to break down more defensively-minded outfits at times this term, but that shouldn't be an issue against John Hughes' side this afternoon.

And winger Lawless knows the Firhill forward line need to shine again. He said: "Inverness have got good players, but it is about what we do and how we play our game.

"We have played them twice and had two good results against them.

"They will come here feeling they can get one back against us, but hopefully we can get another good result.

"We can't seem to break teams down when they play a certain way against us. But Inverness are flying, so I don't expect them to sit in or try and hold out.

"They will come here full of confidence and look to attack. If they do, that should make for a good game and hopefully it will play into our hands.

"I am sure teams are taking note of it, so hopefully we can find the answer and mix up our play. We need to get results against teams that sit in."

The Caley cup clash is a welcome break from Premiership duty for Thistle after a mixed run of results.

After a five-star showing against Hamilton, the Jags were held by Kilmarnock before their Saints slump last time out.

But Lawless is confident Archibald's side can produce a performance and get a result when it matters as they bid for a last-eight berth.

He said: "We seem to be in a rhythm at the moment where it is one step forward and one step back.

"Thankfully we have got a game today, so we can look to put it right and hopefully get another win.

"If we didn't have a game, we would have to wait a long time to play again, but we are still in the cup and looking forward to it.

"Hopefully we can put in a good performance and get into the next round because I don't think we have had a good run for a long time."

Victory over Inverness would take Thistle one step closer to a potential Hampden date as they look for an extended cup run.

The National Stadium took centre stage for the League Cup semis last weekend, but Lawless isn't dreaming of a trip across Glasgow just yet.

He said: "The two games looked really good. It would be great if we could get to Hampden, but we aren't thinking that far ahead.

"We have got a really tough game against Inverness first. If we could get there, we would take a big support, so it would be good to get there.

"You always want to do well in the cups. It has been a while since we have had a good cup run here, so it would be good to push on and get into the next round today."