Kris Doolan says that young striking protégé Kevin Nisbet can have a huge future at Partick Thistle if he continues to work hard on his development.

Doolan has been the main goal threat for Alan Archibald’s men in recent seasons, and he believes that Nisbet possesses similar predatory instincts.

He said: “I really like Kevin, I think he can offer the club an awful lot in the coming years.

“He’s got a big future at the club and I like what I’ve seen of him so far. He’s got a lot of potential and I’m looking forward to seeing how he develops.

“The more experienced guys like me will try to play a role in that, he needs to be nurtured. I think he’s got a natural talent for scoring goals, I can see that in him.

“He’s also a clinical finisher. Although he’s young, he’s not raw in terms of his finishing. I think if he’s nurtured and he’s looked after then he can be a massive prospect here.”

With just six goals in ten matches so far this season, Nisbet may be called upon to add to Partick Thistle’s firepower more often than had been expected at this early stage of his career.

Doolan, who has two goals to his name so far this campaign, believes though that the entire team must also bear that responsibility, as they did in the win over Dundee United.

“I think it’s important that everybody chips in with goals, the strikers can’t be the only ones that are scoring,” he said.

“Across all good teams you always get midfielders chipping in with goals, defenders chipping in with goals and you’ve got to have that sort of spread. You can’t rely on just one person across a full season.

“I’ve scored double figures in every year that I’ve been here, and I’ll continue to score goals, but it was nice to see other boys getting on the scoresheet and I think you saw against United how much everyone celebrates that and how much everyone enjoys it when that happens.

“I think can see the confidence that the win has given everybody. We’re all happier and we’re looking forward to the next game.

“It was a real relief. We hadn’t been playing badly, but things just weren’t going for us at all at both ends of the pitch.

“Teams go through that, it’s just unfortunate that our bad spell came right at the start of the season and so it has been highlighted more.

“Hopefully that’s us through it strongly and we’re looking forward to kicking on now."