I am sure the Partick Thistle fans would have been delighted when Stephen O'Donnell confirmed he would not be leaving the club last month.

Stephen has decided to stay until the end of the season, which is great because he is such an important player for us. We will need all our big players between now and the end of the campaign.

Players will always come and go, especially at clubs like Thistle and, if he does leave in the summer, then we will wish him all the best. You never know, and you can never say never.

He might stay and have another season, but he might want to move on. We are just happy that we have got him in this vital run-in.

We can't tie players down on long-term contracts and players will always want to move on and try different things, that is football. If he goes, he will do so with our best regards.

It is always hard to replace players like Stephen. It is very evident what he gives to the team and he is a good lad as well.

Defensively, I think he has come on a lot this year. That was maybe an area of his game he had to work on a wee bit.

Going forward, that is a very natural thing for him, but he is a defender first and foremost, and that is his job. He has worked a lot on the defensive side of his game and I think you can see that.

He is that type of player, he knew what he had to work on and he has put in the hours to improve all areas of his game - his crossing, his passing, his throw-ins.

He has done a lot of work with Frank Anderson, who has been coming in and taking a lot of the players this season.

He has a programme that works your core and upper body and it has certainly helped Stephen with his long throw-ins, which has become a real weapon for us now.

In the Hamilton game, two of the goals came from his throw-ins and it is something we can use.

Frank came in at the start of the season and works twice a week with a few boys. I think they have enjoyed it and we have certainly noticed the difference.

Hopefully it will prove useful for us against Inverness Caley Thistle in the Scottish Cup this afternoon.

It was a big opportunity missed for us against St Mirren last Friday when we lost 1-0 and it was very disappointing, but we can't dwell on it.

It is a really big tie today. Alan Archibald and I watched them last Saturday and it should be a good game here.

We have had a couple of excellent results against Inverness this season, but they are a good team.

John Hughes has got a good squad of players up there, but it is a big game for us and one we know we can win if we get back to doing what we are good at.

And I wouldn't even mind if one of our guys can match my superb Scottish Cup replay winner up at Inverness in 2002!