With three new signings brought in this week Manager Craig Brewster had plenty of options to choose from for the 4th round Scottish Homecoming Cup tie against 1st division Partick Thistle.  He decided to make four changes from the side that was defeated by Rangers last Sunday.  Goalkeeper Michael Fraser replaced Ryan Esson and there was also a place for Lionel Djebi-Zadi at left back.  New signings Pavels Midhadjuks and Filipe Morais both made their debuts with Thierry Gathuessi taking a place on the bench.  Dropping out were David Proctor, who had a hamstring strain, Ian Black and Richard Hastings, who was named as a substitute.

 With five minutes on the clock Roy McBain came close to opening the scoring with a 20 yard strike which Partick goalkeeper John Tuffey tipped over and then Iain Vigurs put a long range shot wide of the goal.  Partick Thistle hit back with a shot of their own five minutes later when former ICT trialist Liam Buchanan let fly with his left foot but the returning Michael Fraser had it covered and collected easily.

On the 18th minute the much talked about Gary Harkins stepped forward with intent but his strike from 25 yards whistled past the post.

We broke the deadline with 27 minutes played and it was new signing Filipe Morais who marked his debut with a goal.  The winger had been looking lively early on up front and he produced a sharp turn and from 22 yards his strike took a wicked deflection and nestled in the bottom corner of the net.

Half-time score: ICT 1 (Morais 27 mins) - Partick Thistle 0

Manager Craig Brewster made a substitution at half-time with Richard Hastings coming on to replace Lioenl Djebi-Zadi at left back.

Within one minute of the restart we had extended our lead, a Partick Thistle attack was broken up and we moved quickly upfield with a Don Cowie through ball into Iain Vigurs allowing the young midfielder to smash a great strike across the goalkeeper into the top corner of the goal.

Michael Fraser had to be on his toes shortly afterwards when again Gary Harkins got a shot in on goal following a good move involving Rowson and McKinlay but Michael got down well to push his 18 yard shot round the post for a corner kick which came to nothing.

Partick Thistle had the ball in the net when ex-Celtic striker Simon Donnelly netted but it was ruled out for offside and seconds later we had made it three.  Striker Andy Barrowman headed the ball on for Filipe Morais and he knocked the ball home despite the attentions of Partick defender Simon Storey for his second of the afternoon.

With 73 minutes gone Thierry Gathuessi made his first appearance in an ICT shirt replacing Russell Duncan.  Eight minutes later the hero of the day Filipe Morais went off to a great ovation from the home support and Adam Rooney took his place.

The referee blew the final whistle and we were comfortably into the next round of the cup with Filipe Morais picking up a deserved man of the match award.

Full-time score: ICT 3 (Morais 27 & 55 mins, Vigurs 46 mins) - Partick Thistle 0

ICT Team

Fraser

Tokely, Midhadjuks, Munro, Djebi-Zadi

Cowie, Duncan, McBain, Vigurs

Morais

Barrowman

Subs: Esson (GK), Rooney for Morais (81 mins), Hastings for Djebi-Zadi (46 mins), Gathuessi for Duncan (73 mins), Wood