CHRIS DUGGAN is confident there is plenty more to come from strike star Nathan Eccleston after he marked his Partick Thistle debut with a goal this week.

The former Liverpool kid opened the scoring for the Jags' second string in their 4-3 win over St Johnstone on Tuesday night, but was overshadowed by his forward partner as Duggan bagged a hat-trick to clinch the win.

Duggan said: "Nathan has just joined up with the squad recently so it was going to be hard coming to an unknown team, not knowing anybody's name and trying to link up with his team-mates.

"He got his goal though and that will give him a lot of confidence so hopefully he can kick on from that."

Thistle looked to be cruising towards three points against the Saints as the Firhill forward line played their part, but it was to turn into a nervy ending as the visitors fought back.

The Jags held on after conceding a couple of late goals and Duggan was pleased to get over the line.

"It was closer than we wanted it to be," he told ptfc.co.uk

"In the second half we just didn't turn up and we never passed the ball, we can't really let that happen in games.

"It's always good to score three goals but I think the performance is more important.

"The fact that they scored three goals at the end kind of took the shine of it but I'm always happy to score three."