NATHAN ECCLESTON is gunning for revenge after he suffered a debut defeat to St Mirren on Friday night.

The striker made his Jags bow in the 2-1 loss to the Buddies as Alan Archibald's side blew the chance to give themselves some breathing space in the Premiership standings.

Tommy Craig's side return to Firhill tonight aiming to complete a quickfire double and book a place in the fourth round of the League Cup.

The Saints clash could see Eccleston handed his first start for Thistle as the former Liverpool and Blackpool forward continues to build his fitness.

Archibald has targeted a run in both domestic knockout competitions this season and Eccleston reckons there are benefits of progressing through the rounds.

He said: "I played in the Europa League with Liverpool when we qualified from the group stage. It was good to do that because these runs can give you momentum.

"When you're doing well in cup competitions you can bring that in your league games.

"We owe St Mirren some payback after Friday. It's difficult to take a loss like that, especially when they scored right at the end.

"They won it with practically the last kick of the ball and, when you think of how we conceded that penalty, it's very disheartening.

"But victory will taste a lot sweeter when we knock them out of the competition."

It was to prove a debut to forget for Eccleston at Firhill as St Mirren came back from a goal down to snatch their first three points of the campaign.

The 23-year-old joined the Jags on the final day of the transfer window earlier this month after his contract at Bloomfield Road expired.

It has been a frustrating start to the campaign for Archibald's side as they have failed to build on wins over Ross County and Inverness Caley Thistle.

But Eccleston is eager to play his part in getting the Jags back on track this term.

He said: "I picked up a thigh strain during the international break and that held me back.

"It was good to finally make my debut on Friday but disappointing to lose. The good thing about football is that there is always another game coming up to put that right.

"We were unfortunate to concede a goal in the very last minute against St Mirren.

"I had watched the lads beat Inverness in our previous game and I had been very impressed by the performance.

"I thought they played some really good football - it was a high standard. We have some very good players in this squad and I'm very excited and happy to be here."

A lack of cutting edge cost Thistle dear on Friday night as they struggled after Kris Doolan had given them the lead.

A sloppy second half showing allowed the Saints back into the game as Callum Ball and Kenny McLean netted to give Craig's side a much-needed Premiership triumph.

Thistle will look to put the record straight when they face the Saints again tonight.

And Eccleston is confident there will be a different outcome this time around.

HE said: "That's football - sometimes you can dominate a game for long spells. But if you don't take your chances then it can come back and bite you, especially if the other team get a goal.

"It gives them the enthusiasm to come back at you and that's what happened in the first game against them.

"However, I think we have to take positives from the fact that we controlled the game for so long.

"Even though you can look at some of the things we did wrong, you need to focus on the positives.

"We created quite a few chances and, on another day, we could have won the game comfortably.

"But it wasn't to be and we need to put that right on Tuesday."