Jags must cut out mistakes to beat Rangers, warns Danny Devine
Partick Thistle defender Danny Devine has acknowledged they must cut out mistakes if they are to win against Rangers on Saturday.
Thistle lost 2-0 at Motherwell last weekend after conceding a sloppy early goal and Devine knows only too well from their 2-0 loss at Ibrox in October that they cannot afford any slip-ups. The former Inverness defender's loose pass ultimately led to Andy Halliday sweeping home the second goal.
Devine said: "We feel like we let ourselves down (at Motherwell). We didn't get off to the greatest of starts and they punished us for the mistakes we made.
"If you make any mistakes (Rangers) will punish you. The one I gave away on the halfway line, they went and punished. We know against top quality players you have to cut all the mistakes out and be patient.
"Rangers are a good side, they have good quality throughout the team and are good at keeping the ball.
"We have to think about our game on Saturday and impose our game on them and hopefully we can do that."
The Northern Irishman acknowledged his side might not see as much of the ball as normal during Saturday's Firhill derby.
"We are a team that likes to keep the ball so they might end up having to be patient. Obviously they are a good side and they will have spells where they will have a lot of possession.
"We are just going to have to keep our shape, keep disciplined, keep patient and wait for our chance to get on the ball and show what we can do."
Dave King has confirmed Mark Warburton will be given cash to splash in January - even though he admits the Rangers boss failed to squeeze every penny of value from his summer spending.
The Light Blues have struggled on their return to the top flight this summer and are already 11 points behind runaway Ladbrokes Premiership leaders Celtic.
Gers chairman King believes his manager was given the necessary funds to put up a better fight than the side have so far managed after increasing Warburton's budget by 60 per cent.
But none of the 11 new faces who checked into Ibrox this summer have made a major impact.
The signing of Joey Barton has proved especially costly. The controversial midfielder was paid off after just eight appearances following a training-ground bust-up with Warburton, with the club's total bill topping B#500,000.
Despite that, King will once again trust the manager with the Gers chequebook after challenging him to land a lucrative Europa League slot.
In an interview given to RangersTV after he appeared at the club's annual general meeting, the chairman said: "The view we have taken with Mark is that he must continue to look at his squad.
"I think he will admit certainly the summer transfer spending wasn't as successful as it was the previous season.
"I know the standard is higher, but some of the players he has brought in - Joey Barton being a great example, he tied up a lot of wages but he didn't perform for the manager.
"The manager then has to recycle that, and I think he has to keep looking, see what players are working in his squad, see what ones he may want to move on and which ones he might want to bring in.
"So I would expect some activity in January. I know that Mark is working on a plan for January and I think there are quite a number of options he is looking at."
Meanwhile, Warburton revealed Martyn Waghorn will return to his squad for Saturday's trip to face Partick Thistle following a rib injury. Midfielder Josh Windass has also shaken off the ankle knock that forced him off against Dundee.
Source: PAR
