PARTICK THISTLE gained revenge for their Premiership loss to St Mirren last week as they squeezed into the last eight of the League Cup at Firhill.

The Jags had been left gutted last Friday night as the Buddies came from behind to snatch all three points but this time it was Alan Archibald's side who left it late to clinch the victory.

The home team had to wait until extra-time to finally force themselves in front in a poor encounter. And it was super sub Nathan Eccleston who grabbed the glory with his first goal for the club.

The 1,879 fans who turned up for the second meeting in five days between these two teams must have wished they hadn't bothered for most of this drab affair.

Chances were virtually non-existent as neither side got going in a low-quality first half. An early Kris Doolan shot that the Jags striker put by the post was as good as it got.

By comparison, the opening exchanges in the second half were mildly entertaining, with Conrad Balatoni seeing his header from Kallum Higginbotham's cross being saved by Marian Kello.

That was one of the few mooments that threatened to bring the fans to their feet and it wasn't long before Archibald turned to his bench in search of inspiration.

Ryan Stevenson replaced James Craigen and Eccleston made his second appearance in red and yellow as he took over from Doolan at the head of the Thistle attack.

The Jags did look a bit more purposeful going forward but it was St Mirren who should fhave opened the scoring near the end. But Kenny McLean spurned the best chance of the 90 minutes as he could only find the side net with a back post header.

Moments later, it was the Thistle bench who were left with their head in their hands as the home side broke but Stevenson fired his effort at Kello as team-mates arrived through the middle.

As extra-time loomed, the Buddies looked the more likely to find a winner but again poor finishing cost them.

Partick keeper Fox pulled off a terrific save from Thomas Reilly's powerful strike before McLean headed wide another Reilly corner from close in.

The finale was frantic but remained goalless as Thistle couldn't find a route to goal.

After a Steven Lawless shot was blocked, Stuart Bannigan put his effort from the edge of the area beyond Kello's left-hand post. Lawless ballooned another effort over the bar after Kello could only parry a Higginbotham drive.

In the 100th minute Thistle finally broke the deadlock and clinched the win. Eccleston tapped home from close range after Kello couldn't hold on to Christie Elliott's low shot.