KRIS DOOLAN hopes the ghosts of last season don't come back to haunt Partick Thistle on a regular basis this term.

Alan Archibald's side blew the chance to move 10 points clear of struggling St Mirren on Friday night as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Firhill.

Doolan had given the Jags a first-half lead, but after a series of chances went awry, Thistle never got out of the traps iafter the interval as the Buddies rallied to claim all three points - their first win of the season.

A last-minute penalty from Kenny McLean was a tough blow to take as Thistle failed to build on the encouraging win over Inverness Caley Thistle and suffered their third league loss this season.

Doolan said: "That was a wake-up call. It is good it has happened so early in the season, but we have to learn from it.

"We need to take things on board and learn when we are winning games how to see them out and manage the situation on the park.

"It is frustrating that it is creeping back in after it happened to us last season, but hopefully we can stamp it out and not let it happen again."

After seeing their Premiership ambitions suffer another setback, Thistle welcome St Mirren back to Firhill tomorrow for a League Cup clash.

Both sides will fancy their chances of booking a place in the fourth round of the competition and Doolan is determined to bounce back at the first opportunity.

He said: "It doesn't matter to us that we are playing the same team again so soon, we still want to put things right.

"We have to go out and show how good a team we are. I am sure St Mirren will have got a big lift from Friday night, they have struggled at the start of the season.

"But we are back at Firhill and we need to make sure they don't come here and go away with anything.

"It would be nice to have a cup run this season. Every club looks for that and we are no different.

"The manager is always keen to get us focused on doing well in the cups.

"The focus is on the Premiership first and foremost but it is nice to have a break from the league and the further you go in the cups the more excitement there is."