MORTON defender Michael Ledger has urged his team-mates to capitalise on the return of boss Dougie Imrie when Ayr come to Cappielow this afternoon.
The English defender admits it took a bit of adjusting to when the Ton gaffer was confined to the stand for the last six games due to an SFA ban.
In that time Ton have managed to pick up eight points out of 18 but Ledger has warned his team-mates that they are not safe yet from the Championship drop zone.
He told the Tele: “We’re looking forward to having the gaffer back on the touchline, it’s been strange not having his instructions put across from the touchline.
“We’ll be happy that it’s going to be back to normal.
“It must’ve been tough for him as well but I think as players we did well and just got on with it.
“Obviously you’d rather have your manager there but Andy Millen did a great job in his absence.
“The form has been good, we’ve picked up points mostly every week and we’ve shown character in coming back from behind in games too.
“We’ve had to dig in and defend in games and we’ve had to keep sticking together to get these results.
“It’s been good to see but we’ve still got to make sure that we keep pushing up the table."
Ledger and his team-mates know that a win against Ayr today at Cappielow would be a massive result that would leave them on the brink of securing safety in the second tier.
Ton are unbeaten against the Honest Men this term but Ledger expects a tough match.
He said: “The games against Ayr so far have been tight but they’ve not beaten us yet this season which is good for us.
“We won down at Somerset and we’ve drawn twice and that’ll be a concern for them going into the game, there won't be a lot of pressure on us.
“Our form at Cappielow has been great recently and I don’t think teams enjoy coming to play us just now."
Ledger feels Ton are finally showing their true capabilities after a poor start to the season cost Gus MacPherson his job and then left the team rock bottom of the table.
He told the Tele: "I think if you’d said at Christmas that the form would turn around in the way that it has panned out then everyone would have bitten your hand off.
"I don’t think a lot of people would’ve been expecting it at all.
“But we knew as a group we were capable of putting a run together and since Dougie has come in it’s been brilliant.
“The job’s not done yet though, we’ve got six games to go and we need to be ready for the final push."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here