ONE cup final has been lost-but there are five more to win for Partick Thistle.

The Jags may have fallen at the final fence in the Ramsdens Cup, but the winning post remains in sight in the Irn-Bru First Division.

They face the only other runner in the race when Morton visit Firhill this evening, with the top-of-the-table clash the ideal pick-me-up to a hugely disappointing afternoon on Sunday.

Defeat to Queen of the South in the Ramsdens Cup Final was, of course, hard to take for boss Alan Archibald and his young squad, but it was the manner of their loss which set alarm bells ringing.

It may have taken a shoot-out miss by Conrad Balatoni to condemn the Jags, but Archibald's side were never at the races on a rare off-day.

A similar performance, and another loss tonight, would be a huge setback for Thistle and could spell disaster for their bid to end their exile from the Scottish Premier League.

Thoughts had already turned to the meeting with Morton early on Monday morning and keeper Scott Fox insists the Jags will be more than ready fo r their championship six-pointer.

He said: "I don't think you can say it was the occasion that got to us on Sunday. You never know how people will react in big games.

"It was just a bad game for us. It is something we have to deal with and we will move on. We said before the game it was a massive week. Sunday didn't go well, but we will dust ourselves down and hopefully get a result tonight. The gaffer won't have to say anything. The size of the game speaks for itself.

"It is massive and one that everyone has been waiting for. If we had won on Sunday it would have given us another confidence boost, but we will come back from it."

Having seen their double dreams dashed by the Doonhamers, Thistle must now pick themselves up for the biggest match the club has played in many years.

The Jags will also face Airdrie United, Raith Rovers, Falkirk, Dunfermline and Dumbarton before the end of the First Division campaign, but it is the Morton clash that stands out on the fixture list.

Archibald has led his side on a 10-game unbeaten league run since taking over from Jackie McNamara, with Sunday's cup no-show arguably their worst performance yet.

Thistle have already shown they can recover from setbacks this season and Fox is determined to do so once again.

He said: "With the way the game went, we were lucky to get to penalties. Then you just have to take your chances. When they took the lead, we would have grabbed your hand off for a chance of penalties.

"We never turned up on the day. We ground it out and kept it 0-0 over the 90 minutes and managed to get it to penalties so we showed a bit of character, but our performance wasn't good enough.

"You can look back at it as disappointing we lost like we did on penalties, but the biggest disappointment is that we never turned up on the day and our performance was so poor.

"We never played like we can or like we should have. We know we can play a lot better than that and that is what we will be looking to show when we face Morton."

While Fox had the chance to emerge as Thistle's hero on Sunday, it was Balatoni who would be the villain, as keeper Lee Robinson saved his penalty to hand Queens the trophy.

It was a cruel moment for the Jags defender, who has been one of Thistle's most impressive and consistent performers.

Fox said: "It is unfortunate for Conrad that he was the one who missed the decisive penalty, but there is no blame on his part.

"We are a strong group and we won't be pointing fingers or blaming people for stepping up and missing.

"He put himself forward. Unfortunately, he missed, but he will move on and get over it and so will the squad."

Robinson may have been the man-of-the-moment for Allan Johnston's side, but he played his part in a controversial, dramatic finale to what had been a mundane clash in Livingston.

The former Rangers youngster irked the large Thistle support with his timewasting and gamesmanship during the shoot-out and was warned on several ocassions by referee Crawford Allan.

Fox only indulged in the same shenanigans when Robinson stepped up to the spot and the Jags keeper had no qualms about the antics of his opposite number.

He said: "Penalties are what they are, it is down to chance. If you go the right way then you have a chance to save it. Lee made a few saves and fair play to him.

"That is just the way Lee is and the way he deals with penalties. I have a different approach, I am more concentrated. His technique worked for him and they won.

"It is gamesmanship, but you need to deal with it. Stuff like that happens in games and that is the way it is. It worked for them."