Gary Hamilton’s start to life at the Showpark has gone well with three wins from four games in their pre-season campaign.
The Jags gaffer watched his side defeat Duncanrig Amateurs 5-1 on July 13 with Derek McGrory netting a hat-trick and Ross Good and Tony Quinn completing the win to get off to a flyer.
That was followed by a 4-0 victory over Blantyre RGM last Wednesday , where doubles from William Davies and Scott Gillespie earned the victory.
On Saturday, the Jags beat Amateur cracks Colville Park 4-2 thanks to a double from Davies and strikes from Ryan Barrat and trialist Paul Byrne.
The only blemish came on Monday night when they lost 3-0 to amateur side Eastfield.
Hamilton said: “Everything has been really positive over the last few weeks and I’m looking forward to getting started with the competitive games.
“The Eastfield game was always going to be a challenge. They are West of Scotland champions and reached the Scottish Cup final last season, so they’ll be one of the top Amateurs teams in the country this season.
“It was always the intention to play them last because they would be our biggest challenge, but we had five guys missing from what our regular starting 11 will be so I’m not too worried about the result.
“We’ve had five weeks to gel and Eastfield have kept most of their players over the past few seasons, so they’ve had five years to get to know each other.
“We scored 13 goals in the three other games, scored some good team goals and our best performance was last week against Blantyre. I’m pleased with how it’s gone in general.”
This weekend the competitive action gets underway when Thistle travel to Larkhall in their opening match of the Sectional League Cup. They will then make the trip to Rutherglen Glencairn on Monday before closing out the group at home to Blantyre Vics on July 31.
Hamilton, who has previously stated the cup will be an extension of pre-season for his side ahead of the West Region League One campiagn, added: “Larkhall have made quite a few signings as well, so it will be an interesting one on Saturday.
“I’m quite confident going into the game, but everything we are doing is geared towards being prepared for that first league game on August 3.
“We’ve got three cup games in five days coming up, so we’ll be looking to get as many boys as possible involved.”
EK will be without goalkeeper Derick Moore for the final two League Cup games as he is on a week’s holiday from Saturday.
