MORTON boss Dougie Imrie says he is relishing the prospect of returning to the dugout this weekend after completing his six-game touchline ban.

The 38-year-old revealed that he's found it tough not being able to kick every on the sidelines while watching his side edged closer to Championship safety.

Imrie is delighted his suspension has come to an end and hopes his return to the dugout coincides with a victory over Ayr United this weekend as he looks to continue Ton's five-game unbeaten run at Cappielow.

He told the Tele: “I’m delighted to be back on the touchline this weekend against Ayr because it hasn’t been easy sitting in the stand.

"I want to kick every ball alongside the boys.

“It’s been hard for the six games if I'm being truthful, but I am really looking forward to be getting stuck in again in a way that I normally would be on a match day.

“Our home form since the turn of the year has been great, so I’m hoping that we can keep this unbeaten run going.

“The boys have shown over the last six games that they’ve got a resilience about them as a team.

“They want to defend, which is great for me as it shows their commitment and desire and they want to win matches for this club.

“I’m delighted for all the defenders just now, Alan Lithgow, Oisin McEntee and even Michael Ledger, who’s maybe had a bit of stick in the last couple of weeks.

“They all seem to be coming into their own just now and it can only benefit us going into the final six games.

“We’re in a good position and I'll keep on harping on the message, it’s down to us what we do in these final games between now and the end of the season.

“We’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves and do what we do best in order to get as many points on the board between now and the final day, ensuring that Championship football will be at Cappielow at the start of next season.”

Imrie admits his side cannot afford another lapse in concentration which saw them lose a late equaliser to Dunfermline last Friday.

He hopes that it can be used as a positive as he looks to avoid any more slip-ups between now and the end of the campaign.

He added: "The goal we conceded against Dunfermline wasn’t good enough.

"Reece Lyon has to do a lot better. I know he’s a young boy who’s learning the game but he has to do a lot better.

“From the resulting corner we’ve lost a poor poor goal from our point of view because Lewis McCann has run across his man and scored and we’ve put someone in there to try and prevent that.

“It was a gutter to take. That shows how far we’ve come as a group in such a short space of time, so we need to look at it as a positive and move on."