Partick Thistle attacker Chris Erskine has tipped Jags new boy Blair Spittal to follow in his footsteps by kick-starting his career at Firhill after a sticky spell at Tannadice.

Erskine flourished upon his return to Thistle last season, hitting nine goals to help Alan Archibald’s men into the top six and banishing memories of an unhappy period at Dundee United.

Spittal has followed Erksine’s path to Maryhill from Tayside, and from what Erskine knew about him from his time at United as well as what he has seen from him since his move to the Jags, he is sure that the 21-year-old can have the same sort of impact that he did.

“He’s settling in really well,” Erskine said. “As soon as I knew the manager was interested in him I thought he would fit in here.

“With the technical ability he has, I think he’ll really fit in well with the way we play. He’s looking really good in training and there’s no doubting the ability that he has.

“I obviously knew him from United and he’s a good guy, so he’s fitting in great with all the lads so far.

“I think he can do what I probably did last season when I came back. The way we play suits him.

“He plays in a similar position to me. He likes to drop into holes, pick the ball up and get turned, and nine times out of 10 we look to feed the ball into those positions.

“The way we pass the ball will suit him. Towards the end of the season at Tannadice he was getting missed out a bit with the way they were playing, so I definitely think that he will really fit into our style and turn out to be a really good signing.

“I just hope he doesn’t put me out of the team. It’s good to have as much competition as you can in every position, and him coming in certainly strengthens the squad and that can only be good for the team.

“I’m sure he will do well, but he won’t get me out of the starting eleven!”

Erskine has enjoyed a week of training at Thistle’s pre-season camp near Colchester, and he feels that the team are now ready to take on the challenge of the Betfred Cup group stages.

And he senses hunger in the ranks to better what they achieved last season when they finally broke through that barrier of becoming a top six club.

“We obviously had a great season last time out,” he said. “But we all want to get into the top six again at the very least.

“Obviously we know it will be tough, and there is an argument for saying it would be an even bigger achievement this season than last because Hibs are up now too.

“But no one here is resting on their laurels. We still have things that we want to achieve and we’re always looking to move forward as a team.

“That’s one of the big things I’ve noticed about the club since I came back, they are always looking to make progress, and we want to do that on the field as well.

“It’s going to be difficult of course, but we’ve got Niall Keown back in defence again, Stuart Bannigan coming back in midfield which is great and like having a new player, and the likes of Blair coming in to help us in the attacking areas. And I’m sure the manager might add one or two more.

“There’s no reason at all why we can’t have another really successful campaign.”