STEVEN LAWLESS is confident Partick Thistle can continue moving in the right direction and improve once again in the Ladbrokes Premiership next season.

And the Jags star is determined to play his part as he looks to make his mark at Firhill this term after a mixed campaign on and off the park last time out.

Lawless will start the new season like he ended the last one – in the stands and not on the park – as he serves the second game of his ban for breaching betting rules.

The winger will sit out Thistle’s top flight opener against Hamilton Accies this weekend as Alan Archibald’s side look to get off to a flying start this term.

And the 24-year-old can’t wait to get down to business as he looks to inspire the Jags to beat their eighth-place finish from last season.

Lawless said: “That is all behind me now and I am looking forward to the new season. I am focusing on my football and just looking to do as well as I can.

“I want to improve as a player and help the team push forward as well. We want to finish higher in the league again and hopefully we can keep improving and going in the right direction.

“The league will be harder so it will be tough but we are confident that we have got the players here to do well.

“We felt we could have finished higher last season and we were a bit disappointed at how it ended up. We are confident we can get even higher.”

If Thistle are to improve once again next term, the form of forward Lawless is likely to be key to their Premiership chances.

Boss Archibald remains on the lookout for more reinforcements to bolster his attacking line following the departures of Kallum Higginbotham and Lyle Taylor this summer.

But Lawless, who scored just three times for Thistle last term, is confident the foundations are in place for Thistle ahead of the new campaign.

He said: “The manager has brought David Amoo in and he will do well for us and I am sure there will be other players coming in.

“Dools (Kris Doolan) is a goal scorer, Stevo (Ryan Stevenson) is a creative player, and even (Stuart) Bannigan can create when he is not defending! We have got good players all over the park.

“I will be doing my best to create and play my part and create as much as I can. I am always trying to get better so hopefully I can get more goals and more assists than I did last season.

“My goal return wasn’t that great last year so I am looking to do a lot better on that front. If I can do that, that will be good for me and the team.”

Thistle head to Hamilton this weekend on the back of a solid summer schedule and they equipped themselves well against English outfits Wigan and Rotherham in recent days.

And Lawless reckons the preparations have them in fine fettle as they look to get off to a winning start at New Douglas Park.

He said: “It has been a good pre-season and it is good to get through it and now we can look forward to the new season.

“Everyone has been building towards the first game so we can’t wait to get going.

“We have had some good games over the last few weeks so hopefully we can take that into the Hamilton game and get off to a good start. We know it will be a hard game, it always is there, but we are confident going into it.

“Hopefully we can get off to a good start and get some points on the board early doors.

“There are no easy games in this league. Hopefully we can get a couple of good results under our belt and we can get more confidence and pick up more points.”