KRIS DOOLAN insists that Partick Thistle aren’t panicking, despite another shot-shy display at Tynecastle on Saturday.

The Jags went down meekly by three goals to nil to high-flying Hearts, and have now failed to score in four of their first five games.

Doolan, scorer of his side’s only two goals so far this season in the game against Kilmarnock, endured an especially tough afternoon.

The frontman was forced to feed off the merest of scraps as he ploughed a lone furrow up against the Jambo’s imposing defenders.

“It was difficult,” he admitted.

“It’s a lot easier when there’s a couple of people in there creating.

“We have got creative players, it’s just that today it didn’t happen for us, right across the park from back to front.

“We need to learn from games like this and learn fast.

“We just need to keep our heads down, I’m sure it will turn.

“In other games we’ve made so many chances, but today it just didn’t happen for us.

“We never created anything really, but we move on to the next game and hopefully we’ll score some goals.”

Thistle had started the game relatively brightly, but by the time Osman Sow moved Hearts ahead on 28 minutes, the only surprise was that it had taken them so long to score.

A lofted corner by Nicholson was dropped by Tomas Cerny under pressure from Calum Paterson, and Sow gleefully tucked in the loose ball.

Thistle never really threatened to get back into the game, and the only real question seemed to be when Hearts would add to their lead.

They did so in the 68th minute, when Paterson was tripped inside the area by Stuart Bannigan as he ran on to a Billy King pass.

Juanma’s spot-kick was saved by Cerny, but Nicholson reacted quickest to blast home the rebound.

It didn’t take Juanma long to atone for his penalty miss, as two minutes later the big Spaniard outmuscled Frederic Frans and lifted a delicate chip into the net over the advancing Cerny to round off the scoring.

Doolan didn’t buy into the theory that some of the Thistle players froze due to the raucous Tynecastle atmosphere.

He conceded however that they could have better stood up to the physical challenge posed by the Jambos.

“Of course, they’re a good side and they played well,” he said.

“They’ve done well so far in the Premier League.

“They’re a big team but we’ve got to counteract that. We know we’re going to come up against big players in the Premier League, most teams have lots of big players. Hearts tend to have a wee bit more.

“But we have to counteract that and play round about it, and today we just didn’t do that.

“Everybody knows what it’s like to come to Tynecastle, we’ve all been here before.

“It’s a great place to come and play football, we’re just disappointed we didn’t do that.”

Still without a win this season and with just three points on the board, Doolan knows that getting that first victory soon is vital for the morale of the squad.

“That first win, as soon as that comes it will bring confidence,” he added.

“Scoring goals brings confidence to a team as well, so all we can do is pick ourselves up and go on to the next game.

“It’s not a worry. I don’t think you can worry about things but you have to learn.

“We’ve got to make sure that we take the positives out of the games, and today again we’ll have to go away, pick up the positive things that we did and move on.”