AS a club and as players, the time has come for Partick Thistle.
It is not a case of now or never for the Firhill side or many of their most promising talents but after a season in which they have thrived in the Irn-Bru First Division and showed off their impressive credentials, the expectation is that the next step will represent a significant leap forward.
After almost a decade away from the Scottish Premier League, Thistle are closing in on a return to the top flight, with Alan Archibald's side currently five points ahead of second-place Morton with just a handful of fixtures left this season. It is a run-in which includes a mouth-watering meeting with the Cappielow club next Wednesday. Their promotion ambitions will take a back seat tomorrow, though, when they face Queen of the South in the Ramsdens Cup final, a game, Thistle hope, that will bring the first piece of silverware in what could prove to be a memorable campaign.
Under former manager Jackie McNamara, and now Archibald, Thistle have shown themselves to be one of the most exciting teams in the country, with many supporters rating this current crop as highly as the famous team of 1971 which shocked Celtic to win the League Cup. Their progress thus far has been hugely encouraging but work still needs done.
"Things are ready to take off," said Chris Erskine, the Thistle forward. "When we started the season there was a feeling that something special was going to happen this year. We knew we had a good group of players who could go on and achieve some good things.
"If we were to win on Sunday then it would give our title hopes a massive boost. The final gives us a break from the league as there has been a lot of pressure with that recently. But a win over Queens would push us on for the game against Morton on Wednesday."
All going to plan, Thistle will be league and cup winners within a matter of weeks and their dreams will have been realised. For many, it will only be the start of the journey, however, with several of Thistle's most valuable talents – such as Erskine, captain Paul Paton and defender Stephen O'Donnell – capable of operating, and thriving, at a higher level. The potential is there but it remains to be seen in whose colours it will be fulfilled.
"It would be great [to play in the top flight], especially as a player who was playing Junior football just four years ago," Erskine said. "If someone had told me back then that I would get the chance to play in the SPL then I would have laughed at them. But it's the way things have gone at this club and I've enjoyed every minute.
"I think I am [ready], we have boys in the team who have come down from SPL clubs and are itching to show they should be back up there and I'm the same. I'd love to show I am ready to play at a higher level and I'm desperate to make that step and hopefully it's with Thistle."
It is not just on the pitch that reputations have been enhanced at Firhill this season, with Archibald picking up where McNamara left off by guiding his side on a remarkable 10-match unbeaten run to enhance their promotion prospects. Success has been in short supply in recent years but the signs are promising as they enter a decisive few days.
"I see similar positive signs at the club as when I was involved in a successful promotion campaign as a player," Scott Paterson, Thistle's assistant manager, said. "The main thing you notice about the players is that they're all good friends. It makes our job easier. I said to [Archibald] when I first came in that one of the first things I noticed was the togetherness as a group, which was similar to what we had.
"I don't think the final will have any bearing on our league run-in. As soon as the final whistle is blown on Sunday, I'll start preparing the team for Wednesday's game against Morton. We just want to keep winning games."
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