ABDUL OSMAN is confident he and Partick Thistle can surpass their achievements of last season as he sets his sights on another impressive Premiership campaign.

The midfielder was one of the standout performers for Alan Archibald’s side as they finished eighth in the top flight last term and clinched a third successive season at that level.

After agreeing an extension to his Firhill deal to keep him at the club for another 12 months, Osman has been put through his paces by boss Archibald in recent days after the Jags returned to training ahead of the new campaign.

A friendly with English non-league outfit Eastleigh this evening is the next step in the preparations for Thistle as the big kick-off draws ever nearer.

And Osman hopes it will be the start of a season to remember for Thistle as they look to continue their steady progression under Archibald’s guidance.

He said: “It is a different situation for me this season and I have had a year under my belt here. Everything is going well and I am looking forward to the new season.

“It is a year for me to kick on and look to do better than last season.

“I was pleased with how the season went, but that is in the past now and we need to go again this year and look to improve.

“As an individual, you can always improve and I want to do even better than I did last season. As a team, we are looking to improve as well.

“We need to stick together and try and build on last season. We feel like we could have done much better than we did and we will strive to do better this year.

“We lost a lot of silly points and conceded late goals last season and it wasn’t good enough.

“This year, we need to improve on that and make sure we see games out and pick up the points.

“It was disappointing to lose the number of points we did last season but I am sure we will correct it this year.”

If Thistle are to improve on their eighth place finish next term, the form of midfield man Osman is likely to once again be crucial to their cause.

Boss Archibald has added keeper Tomas Cerny and forward David Amoo to his squad so far this summer and remains on the lookout for further reinforcements in the coming weeks.

A deal to keep Osman at the club for another season could go down as one of his most important bits of business and the 28-year-old is pleased to be back in the Firhill fold this summer.

He said: “It is good to see the boys again and be training again. It has been quite tough, as you would expect in pre-season, but the boys have been working hard.

“I headed back to London over the summer and had some time there with my little girl and my family. I had a trip to Miami as well which was good.

“It is a good squad here so it is nice to be back here and everything is going well just now.

“The main thing about pre-season is for everyone to get fit and get match fit. As we are playing the games, we are working on things to improve on from last season.

“Hopefully we can take that into the league and get off to a good start.”