KRIS Doolan last night hailed teenage sensation Aidan Fitzpatrick the most exciting young talent he has seen during his nine years in Maryhill. The 17-year-old forward, the first player born in the 2000s to score for Partick Thistle, added to his three goals already during this campaign with a scintillating assist for Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo’s equaliser which briefly gave Thistle hope of their first win against Celtic since 1994. While the roof caved in shortly afterwards with two late goals from the Parkhead side, Doolan is convinced that Fitzpatrick is a player we will be hearing plenty about in the future.

“He really is a star in the marking,” said the veteran striker. “He is as exciting a young player as I’ve seen in my time at Thistle.

“I think you can see that on the pitch. We can see that in training each day. Previously there were glimpses of that but more and more as the weeks go on that is levelling out to more consistency. The important thing from Aidan’s point of view, that is why he is in the team to stay in the team, because the more consistent he becomes the more reliable he becomes. He is not just a young boy bouncing in and out of the team any more, he is in the team to stay in the team. I think he will be a first team starter.”

Fitzpatrick certainly showed no shortage of confidence in his own belief when he burst into the space behind the Celtic midfield and outstripped Kris Ajer to feed Mbuyi-Mutombo for a fine finish. “That is one of the things about Aidan as a person, he takes things in his stride, he doesn’t get carried away,” said Doolan. “He isn’t a big headed kind of guy. He knows he has to work hard every single day to stay in the team and as long as he does that you can only see good things happening for him.”

While this year’s Ladbrokes Championship will be a slog every single week amongst teams with little separating them, it is a more forgiving breeding ground for young players. Another impressive performer, in an unfamiliar holding role, was midfielder James Penrice.

“The last four or five years it has been all about staying in the Premier League and it becomes difficult for the manager to put young players in and keep them in the team,” said Doolan. “Up there there is a lot of pressure on the games, a lot of hype around them. That is one positive from being in the Championship I guess, players will get in, get their chance and it is up to them to take it. From Aidan’s point of view I can only see good things happening for him because he is a great young lad.”

With one win and one loss in the league so far, Thistle host troubled a Dundee United side with an identical record on Saturday. Manager Alan Archibald said that will be a bigger deal for his team than an encounter such as this one where the odds were stacked against his team. Whether he has Souleymane Coulibaly, the winger who made such an impact under Lee Clark at Kilmarnock, in his squad by then remains to be seen.

"I’ve said to the lads that next week is more of a cup final for us," said Archibald. "If I was asked to pick a game to go and win it would be next week against Dundee United, not today. It’s more important that the lads take the positives from this performance and build from there.

"He [Coulibaly] only landed just the other day. He has trained with us once and that’s it. We will see where we take it from there."