Partick Thistle defender Danny Devine listened to Hibs manager Neil Lennon complaining about the physical approach of Hamilton over the weekend and rubbed his hands in anticipation.

And he has warned Lennon and his side that they can expect a similarly torrid time when they visit Firhill this Saturday.

Thistle have been renowned in the past few years for their easy on the eye style of play, but Devine says that they are more than capable of mixing it physically when required.

And if Jags boss Alan Archibald senses a weakness in the visitors’ make-up this weekend, the centre-half says that his players are only too happy to exploit it.

“That can be a good thing to hear,” said Devine. “When you see things like that you think that you could possibly get in about this team and they might fold, they might not fancy it.

“We’ll concentrate on playing our own game, but if that’s what the manager wants and that’s what the boys feel will give us the edge to get those three points, then absolutely we will do that.

“We always want to impose our game on the opposition, and if being physical is to be the gameplan, then so be it.

“We have the players the whole way throughout the squad that can handle either approach. We’ve shown already this season and last that we can grind out results, and if it has to be a battle then we will roll our sleeves up and won’t back away from that.

“We obviously like to play and have technical ball-players in the team, but it’s always good to have both sides to your game.”

Devine admits that it has been a frustrating month for Thistle, with only two games being played in the whole of November.

The Hibs match kicks off a hectic December though with eight matches in four weeks, and Devine admits it is a critical juncture in the Firhill side’s season.

“It’s been a strange month only having two games and then so many next month,” he said.

“It’s been quite tough, and with a good result against Hearts we would have liked to have played at the weekend to try and build upon that, but it is what it is.

“We are looking forward to the Hibs game though and we’ll be ready for that.

“All the teams have a lot of games in December, we just have to make sure we come out on top in most of them and we can slowly move up the table with a few wins in December.

“The league is quite tight, so we could be in a much healthier position come January.

“With the break coming, you don’t want to be sitting for those weeks thinking that you have a hell of a lot to do, so it’s such a crucial spell for us.

“The boys know that we can give it absolutely everything in this month, and if we end up with little niggles or injuries, we can deal with those in January.”

The imminent return of key players like captain Abdul Osman from injury will be heartily welcomed by Thsitle fans, and Devine says the rest of the Jags squad will also be pleased to see the numbers boosted.

“The frustrating thing for us is that we have such a good quality squad, and at the moment, we just can’t put it all together,” he said.

“There are always three or four missing. We have good quality players throughout the squad and that will take the strain off the boys who are having to train every day and play every game.

“The manager can freshen things up if he wants to, and that can be a big help.”