Ian McCall confident Zak Rudden will continue to give his all for Partick Thistle ahead of Airdrieonians Scottish Cup tie

Ian McCall insists Zak Rudden will continue to give his all for Partick Thistle after the striker signed a pre-contract agreement with Premiership side Dundee yesterday.

The former Rangers youth will move to Dens Park in the summer on a three-year deal but GlasgowWorld understands that James McPake is keen to push through a deal that would bring Rudden to Tayside before the end of January.

The Jags will be entitled to compensation due to the Scotland Under-21 international being under the age of 24 and they insists it will take a major six-figure offer for the Firhill outfit to sell their top scorer this month.

One thing is for sure, McCall has no doubt his prized asset will continue to perform to a high standard after being included in the squad for this afternoon’s Scottish Cup tie against Airdrieonians.

Speaking just a matter of hours before Rudden’s pre-contract was announced, McCall said: “He’s been terrific and I’d expect no different against Airdrie.

“He’s that type of boy when he’s on the pitch. In the first half against Kilmarnock he was terrific.

“His attitude has been spot on and if he were to leave, whoever gets him is getting a player with a big, big potential.

“He’s still a Partick Thistle player just now and hopefully he will get a couple of goals tomorrow.”

Airdrieonians will pose a familiar threat to McCall’s side at Firhill today, having faced each other on three separate occasion last season as Thistle clinched the League One title.

While the Jags won all of those encounters, McCall was quick to state they were close-fought affairs and with Ian Murray’s men on a five match winning streak, his side won’t take their opponents for granted.

He stated: “I watched them once and Archie watched them last week.

“They’re on a really good run of form. We won all three of the games last season but they could have went either way to be honest – particularly the 4-2 game through there.

“They’re a good side and it won’t be easy for us but we’re not on a bad run either. I think they’ve improved but we’ve improved as well.

“You saw on Thursday night how Cove very nearly took Hibs to penalties – it certainly won’t be easy.

“They are a very good football team. They’ve got Dylan Easton in the middle of the pitch, who every time I see him play I think he looks a right good player.

“He’s maybe not achieved what he should’ve done in his career given the ability he’s got.

“(Calum) Gallagher up front is very good and mobile as well, so they’ve got good players.

“I’m not sure if they finished second or third last year but they had a really good season and they’ve replicated that so far. You never get an easy game against Airdrie.”

While their Championship promotion push remains the priority this season, McCall is determined to seal a place in the last 16 of a competition he has had some mixed memories in both as a manager and a player.

He admitted: “The league is the most important thing but all that matters right now is the Airdrie game. If we win that, we’re in the last 16.

“Airdrie will be thinking the same and so will a lot of other teams so our focus is completely on the game. A cup run helps everyone, I think – not just financially.

“It’s a great competition and I’ve had some contrasting memories in it.

“As a manager, beating Hearts 4-0 at Brockville (with Falkirk) in front of a full house when Hearts were sitting third in the league - Colin Samuel hat-trick and (Owen) Coyle scored.

“Also I think at Dundee United, we beat Aberdeen 5-1 in the quarter finals one year at Tannadice.

“As a player… it’s that long ago I genuinely can’t remember. My abiding memory is being left out of the Scottish Cup final team with Rangers when Davie Cooper and Graeme Souness were named on the bench ahead of myself and Derek Ferguson, so they weren’t two bad players to miss out!"

“The other side of the coin was I went to Auchinleck Talbot with Ayr United and we’d been flying at the top of the Championship.

“I think we’d been hit quite hard by injuries and had gone down to about third in the league… Lawrence (Shankland) was unfit and a few others and we got beat 1-0 at Auchinleck.

“The bus was 10 minutes late picking us up on the street and if you’ve ever been to Auchinleck, they were all out in their gardens and all that was getting shouted was ‘sacked in the morning’.

“We had something like 27 shots and they had three but they deserved to win that day."

Asked for an update on his squad ahead of the Airdrieonians clash, McCall confirmed: “Steven Bell is back in the squad and I think everyone else is fine.

“Darren Brownlie was out running on the pitch just there. He won’t be rushed but there’s a chance he could maybe come back (before the end of the season), who knows.”