Partick Thistle v Airdrie: Ian Murray labels Jags "heavy favourites" in Scottish Cup tie as skipper Fordyce eyes upset

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Ian Murray hopes his Diamonds can mark the lifting of crowd restrictions with a memorable Scottish Cup win at Partick Thistle this weekend.And he insists all the pressure will be on the Jags for the fourth round tie with the Championships side “heavy favourites”.Murray’s men go into the Firhill clash off the back of five straight wins in League One, despite struggling with a number of Covid absences in recent weeks, including the manager.That recent success does give Murray hope of pulling off a cup shock and he says it would be the perfect tonic for fans, who have missed out lately due to crowds being limited to 500 spectators amid Covid restrictions.Murray, who side lost all three meetings last term as the Jags claimed the League One title, said: “It’s a fantastic occasion for us to be in this round again.”It will be Thistle’s first home game since the restrictions were lifted so I’m sure they will get a good crowd in.“Hopefully we take a good support because it’s not too far down the road, and we can go there and give a good account of ourselves against a very good Championship side.“We go into that with no pressure.“Go and enjoy the day and the occasion.“But in football we know you only really enjoy the day if you do well.“We battled last year against them in League One and we came up a little bit short, which was expected because they had bigger armoury to work with than us.”But we go there with no pressure.“The pressure is all on Thistle and that’s not to make it difficult for them.“I’m pretty sure they will think they are heavy favourites for it as well.“We go there believing we can win it though.“That’s why you play football.“You take to the pitch believing you can get a result and hopefully we can do that for