PARTICK THISTLE turned on the style to get their SPFL campaign off to a stunning start.

But Stephen O'Donnell reckons the Jags haven't turned a trick since bagging three points from that impressive 4-0 season-opener against Ross County.

Alan Archibald's side have added just one point to their tally in their last three top-flight outings.

After drawing 1-1 at Dens Park, Thistle collapsed against Hamilton Accies and were then brushed aside by Aberdeen.

O'Donnell is one of four Jags stars - alongside Stuart Bannigan, Gary Fraser and Abdul Osman - who have been nominated for the McCrea Financial Services Player of the Month award as the Firhill faithful get set to crown their top performer in the opening weeks of the season. But the defender reckons there is only one man who is worthy of any praise as attentions turn to the visit of Inverness Caley Thistle today - keeper Paul Gallacher.

O'Donnell said: "It's been an up-and-down start for us. We played well against Ross County and then did it again for half the game at Dundee.

"However, I don't think any of us - apart from Paul - can say they even turned up for the defeats against Hamilton and Aberdeen.

"We were terrible in those games and that's something we've been trying to fix. We also tried it before we played Aberdeen but it just didn't happen.

"So maybe the international break came at a good time for us. It's given us that extra time to work on certain things and, hopefully, we can get that right against Inverness."

While Thistle have failed to hit top form so far, their Highland counterparts have bolted out of the starting blocks.

John Hughes' side are top of the table and unbeaten after their first five fixtures. Few would have predicted Caley would be leading the way at this stage of the campaign.

And O'Donnell knows Archibald's side will have to raise their game if they are to get back to winning ways at Firhill.

He said: "We'll certainly need to turn up against them because they've been playing good football under John Hughes.

"Last season we played them early on, but he had taken over by the next time we met them and I was impressed by how they were trying to play the ball out from the back.

"We need to ensure that we stop them first of all - then we can impose ourselves on the game.

"They have started very well, but we believe we're more than capable of getting a result against them."

With their sights still set on a top-six finish this season, there is no time like the present for Thistle to get their campaign back on track.

And O'Donnell is determined it won't be another campaign of relegation battles at Firhill.

He said: "There's pressure on every position at the moment and the lads who have been playing have been trying to make up for some bad performances by working extra hard at training.

"Unfortunately for us, we don't have that 15-point cushion this year that we had with Hearts last season.

"That should make it more interesting for neutrals, but we believe we can do better than our 10th-place finish last time out.

"To do that we need to win our home games, although at least we've already done that once - in the previous campaign it took us until February to beat somebody at Firhill.

"We don't want to be involved in another relegation battle, but we've been there before now and we can draw on that experience if we need to."