STUART BANNIGAN is determined to add more goals to his game after doubling his top-flight tally against Motherwell.

The Partick Thistle midfielder opened the scoring for Alan Archibald's side at Firhill and set them on their way to a crucial 3-1 win.

The well-taken finish, after he collected a through ball from Steven Lawless, was Bannigan's first Premiership goal since he netted in the opening-night victory over Ross County.

With Kallum Higginbotham ruled out of action due to a knee injury, the onus is on Archibald's stars to step up to the plate in the final third and Bannigan is eager to play his part in front of goal.

He said: "It was a big disappointment not getting a goal last year. Maybe I have a wee licence now with big Abs (Abdul Osman) sitting there to get myself forward and get a couple more to help the team out.

"The gaffer has said to me a few times to get myself in scoring positions and see what happens.

"I had a few chances at the start of the year but not really in the last few games because we haven't been playing well. He has spoken to me about getting forward and scoring.

"Higgy is a big figure for us, a sort of talisman. Every team probably sets out to stop him so we need to spread it about and we all need to step it up when he is not playing."

After suffering a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Kilmarnock last weekend, Thistle bounced back in impressive style as they saw off the Steelmen to ensure they head into the international break in high spirits.

After Scott Fox pulled off a superb early stop from Henrik Ojamaa, Bannigan and Kris Doolan gave the Jags a 2-0 lead before Lionel Ainsworth stunned Firhill with a long-range effort.

Stephen O'Donnell clinched the win late on and Bannigan was pleased Thistle's endeavours paid off to land a crucial three points.

He said: "I think it was down to hard work, really. The manager got it right with the team selection and put a hard-working team out. It was down to that work ethic we won.

"Motherwell threw the kitchen sink at us in the last 20 minutes or so but I thought we handled that really well.

"You need to take your chances when you get them and it was a good save from Foxy to keep us in it. It was a tight game but we took our chances when we got them."

Thistle have thrown away several points when in winning positions since their Premiership return last term but managed to see it out to climb the table on Saturday.

AND Bannigan was pleased the Jags got the job done after Ainsworth gave Motherwell hope with a 30-yard stunner.

He said: "It crosses your mind that it is going to be tight at the end. It was a great strike from the boy, I don't think there is much you can do about it.

"We knew they were going to throw the kitchen sink at us so we had to pick them off on the counter.

"The manager spoke to us at half-time about if they were chucking men forward then we could pick them off on the counter-attack. It was a great ball from Nathan [Eccleston] and good finish from Sod."