Partick Thistle’s Chris Erskine has saluted the professionalism of the Jags squad after they swept their way into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup with minimal fuss against Formartine United.

Alan Archibald’s men have now been drawn away to St Johnstone, and Erskine says that their preparation for the Formartine match was just as thorough as it will be for their trip to Perth.

And he stressed that the routine dismissal of the Highland League outfit wasn’t simply down to the gulf in quality between the sides, but because of the meticulous preparation they put in during the winter break.

“We took it just as seriously as any other game,” Erskine said. “We did video analysis on them and looked at the way they played, so it was just the same as the build-up to any other game.

“We spoke before the game about starting well and doing things right and coming out at a high tempo, the one thing we wanted to do was get an early goal to settle us down and thankfully we managed to do that.

“It was obviously a favourable draw for us and in the Scottish Cup that was the kind of thing you wanted to get lower league opposition, especially at home as well.

“It was one of those ties where you were never going to get any praise for it, so the main thing was just to get into the next round so I’m happy with how it turned out.

“It was a nice game to get us back into things and hopefully we can carry that on into next week.”

The only negative that Erskine took away from the game was the feeling that he should have had more than the two goals he did bag.

And he admitted there was a moment in the first half when he was desperate for the assistant’s flag to spare his blushes after fluffing a golden opportunity.

“I could have had more goals definitely,” he said. “I had a good chance in the first half when Dools gave me the ball and I thought I was offside. I wasn’t expecting it back and I should have scored that.

“I actually couldn’t believe that I was onside! Dools said he played me the ball because he saw that the left-back was playing me on, but when I flicked it to him I was expecting him to take a touch and shoot himself.

“It’s one of those that even although I was offside, I still should be putting the ball in the net anyway.

“I had one in the second half as well when David Amoo cut it back to me and I probably had time to take a touch and hit it and I hit it first time, so it was disappointing not to get a hat-trick at least.”

On a brighter note for Erskine, he welcomed the introduction of young Andy McCarthy for his first-team debut during the second half, a player who he thinks has an exciting future at the club.

“Andy has been doing really well and came across to La Manga with us for the warm weather camp,” he said.

“He looks good in training and he looks like he’s going to be a bright prospect for the club, so it was nice to see him making his debut.”

Attention now turns to a trip to face the league’s bottom side Inverness on Saturday, and Thistle will be handicapped by the loss of captain Abdul Osman and defender Danny Devine through suspension.

But Erskine is confident that whatever Jags team takes to the field in the Highlands, they can return south with three crucial points.

“I think we’ve got a good run of games, and we speak all the time about how the teams round about us are the ones we want to take points from,” he said.

“Starting on Saturday at Inverness that’s got to be the aim.”