Imrie hopeful ‘ fragile’ Morton can salvage play- off dream
Manager looking for quick bounce back after weekend defeat to Airdrie
MORTON boss Dougie Imrie hopes his “fragile”- feeling side can bounce back at the first time of asking when they head down the coast to take on Ayr United tonight.
After Saturday’s dismal defeat to Airdrie, Morton travel to Somerset Park knowing that only a win will do if they are to remain in the hunt for the Premiership play- offs.
Despite looking at a low ebb at the weekend, the manager believes they can bounce back against Scott Brown’s men this time around.
Imrie feels that fourth place and the last play- off slot is still up for grabs, but admits his troops need a boost if they are to remain in the fight.
“The boys here are brilliant, a good group who give it their all every week,” said Imrie. “But they’re feeling a bit fragile at this moment in time. We had a great win against Queen’s Park and any time we seem to go ahead, we see the game out and get the three points.
“I don’t think we’ve come back from behind at all this season, which is disappointing to hear but that’s life. We’ll just need to keep giving it our all.
“When you lose two goals early doors like we did on Saturday then the writing is on the wall.
“We’ve got another tough game tonight against Ayr. Dunfermline drawing on Saturday means we need to go to Somerset Park and win. But Ayr will be looking at the opportunity to go above us too.
“But I’m not too concerned about that, I’m more concerned about my players and how we do going forward.
“It’s disappointing, as we wanted to go to Airdrie and put ourselves in a position going into Tuesday night where we could’ve had some distance between ourselves and them and Dunfermline. But every game is tough at this time of the season and teams will cut each other up. Airdrie have cut us up. They move forward. Dunfermline and Partick cut each other up.”
Imrie feels there will be more twists and turns between now and the end of what’s been a rollercoaster campaign, with Morton playing tonight and on Friday evening. But he has warned his players that they cannot afford a repeat of their lame showing against the Diamonds, who also host Raith Rovers this evening.
He said: “Tonight’s game gives us a chance to bounce back, and maybe it’s good that it comes so quickly. But having three games in six days is tough on any player.
“Four or five weeks ago we had four in 10 days and five in 16. It’s taking its toll on a lot of them but they’re still giving their all.
“I thought Airdrie at times looked very good on Saturday, but that’s because we allowed them to and it can’t happen again.”
Midfielder Robbie Crawford conceded that Morton probably have to win all five of their remaining matches if they are to make the play- offs.
“The defeat from Saturday makes things a lot harder if we’re looking at getting into the top four between now and the end of the season,” said Crawford. “Every game is hard and the majority of teams are still playing for something. Airdrie are five points clear which makes it quite difficult, but we were five points clear at a stage last season and it got clawed back too. It’s possible.
“It’s not uncatchable, what we need to do now is go into our remaining games knowing we need to go and win all of them, and we’ll see where it takes us.
“The game tonight gives us a chance to put things right and get that defeat out of our systems quickly.
“We’ve beat them three times this season and can take confidence from that but it kind of goes out the window with the new manager in there now.
“We know we’ll need to be at our best to get the win.”
I don’t think we’ve come back from behind at all this season, which is disappointing to hear but that’s life. We’ll just need to keep giving it our all