Stevie Lawless reckons that Partick Thistle are already one up on Inverness ahead of this afternoon’s Premiership opener, after luring defender Danny Devine to Firhill over the summer.

Ironically, Thistle fans were fearing that they might lose three of their own star performers to Inverness last season, with their boss at the time John Hughes admitting interest in Lawless, Abdul Osman and Stuart Bannigan. Lawless insists though that he and his teammates were never likely to swap the Jags for today’s opponents, and that with Devine coming the other way, they can open up the season with a win over the defender’s former club.

“Danny’s came in and done really well, so it’s kind of one-nil to us already,” Lawless said. “Hopefully that carries on into the game.

“I’ve been really impressed by him. They don’t take any prisoners up there, but although I knew he was good on the ball, I was really surprised about how composed he is on the ball. It’s really good to have him here.

“When he came in he knew about the speculation so we spoke about it. But personally I didn’t talk to them. There was a bit of interest there but it didn’t really go too far.

“As soon as I spoke to Thistle and sorted some things out then there was no chance of me going there.

“It was basically just at the early stages, and nothing really happened.

“I think it was John Hughes who came out and said it first and that was the first I heard of it, so I spoke to my agent and he said they had spoken to him. I didn’t have a clue!

“I’m like that with my agent to be fair, I tell him not to tell me things unless there’s an offer there.

“There was three of us – me, Banzo and Abs – and I think it was the same with the three of us. I said to Banzo about it and he hadn’t heard anything either. I think it all just came from John Hughes.

“They’ve been doing really well up there so moving my life up there wouldn’t really have bothered me, it’s football and you’re going to have to move eventually.

“That wasn’t really a factor, but as I said, it didn’t really go too far.

“I wasn’t really looking to go to Thistle’s competitors. I’d rather stay here with boys that I know and do well rather than go to a team that would potentially be round about us in the league.”

Thistle manager Alan Archibald bristled at a prediction this week from BBC pundit and former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner that the Jags might finish bottom of the league this season. Lawless says though that the players take no notice of those who don’t share their assertion that the Firhill club firmly belong in the Premiership.

“As soon as relegation gets mentioned then Partick Thistle seem to get mentioned, regardless of how well we’re doing,” he said.

“We just need to take that on the chin and move on. Within us we know what we’re capable of doing and we’ve put in some good performances over the years but maybe not managed to get the results.

“Last year was maybe a bit more of the opposite where we sneaked a few wins, so we’re learning all the time.

“When you’re not playing well you have to find a way to get a result, so if we can get a mixture of doing both then I think we’ll be looking up rather than down.

“I think we belong in the division. We’ve been going to places like Parkhead and feeling down about getting beat one-nil and thinking we could have got more out of the game.

“The same goes for the Aberdeen game at home, so if you’re putting in those sorts of performances against the bigger teams in the league then that’s how you’re going to feel."

RICHIE FORAN insists Inverness Caley Thistle will aim to let their feet do the talking – while others mouth off about how good they are.

The Irishman, preparing for his first league test in management, laughed off former defender Danny Devine’s jibe about joining “a bigger club” in Partick Thistle this summer.

Foran was unconcerned, wishing Devine a good season – and a difficult league debut against his old team-mates at Firhill.

The Caley Thistle manager said: “Good on Danny Boy if he says he has joined a bigger club. I’m not going to get into a war of words about the size of the two clubs.

“I wish Danny all the best. He was a great servant here and a wonderful player for us as well. We tried to keep him, but it wasn’t to be.

“He’s moved on and let’s hope he can have a good season, but let’s hope he has a poor game tomorrow.

“As a club, we quite enjoy flying under the radar. Let the other guys slag each other off or build themselves up, whatever they want to do.

“I’m happy with the way we run things here, the underdog mentality. I know what we’ve got and don’t need to shout about the quality here and how good we can be.

“We just need to go out and show it on Saturday.”

Foran certainly has momentum on his side after topping their group in the Betfred League Cup early stages, seeing off Dundee United, Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath and Arbroath.

The Dubliner, though, believes his team will have to keep improving to make their mark in the league.

Foran stressed: “We’re probably not going to be judged on the cup games, with all due respect to Arbroath and Cowdenbeath. We will be judged on our league form against Premiership opposition.

“The real business starts at 3pm tomorrow and that’s when we need to go out and perform.