Sean Welsh was doing his own Christmas shopping yesterday but the Partick Thistle midfielder is desperate to give the Firhill faithful an early festive gift with victory over Rangers this weekend.

The Jags have not beaten the Govan giants since racking up a 3-0 win back in January 1993 and Welsh is eager to end that barren run against their rivals from across the Clyde.

Despite a sprightly opening in the last encounter between the sides at the start of October, Thistle were floored by a brace of first half goals as Rangers notched a 2-0 win.

The Ibrox outfit have huffed and puffed since coming back into Scotland’s top-flight and Welsh reckons Thistle can exploit the chinks in the armour this weekend.

The 26-year-old said: “In the previous game against them we done well for the first 35 minutes or so. We controlled bits of the game and if we took our chances at Ibrox it may have been different. We can take some confidence from that but we need to sustain that kind of form over the 90 minutes.

“The demands on Rangers are huge and the fans expect them to win every game quite comfortably. As you’ve seen, it’s not been as easy as the fans may have thought. Every team has tried to set up the stall, try to frustrate them and get the fans on their backs.

“There are points to be had against Rangers. They are still adapting to the league. A lot of teams have made it difficult for them. Ross County done well there and Dundee pushed them all the way at Ibrox last weekend and we’re looking to win in front of our own fans.

“We’ve not had any good results against the bigger teams this season and we need to start now. When we are not getting points, it puts extra pressure on us when we are playing the teams around about us. If we can get the first goal and give ourselves a solid platform then I think we’ll have a chance."