JAI Quitongo says a first win in the Championship for Morton over Ayr United would make New Year extra special.

The Honest Men are first-footers at Cappielow on Monday afternoon, with the Ton yet to defeat the Ayrshire side in the league this season.

The Ton frontman, who scored when the sides last met at Somerset Park on November 5, believes that with a large home support on their side, the maiden game of 2023 is the perfect opportunity to get one over Lee Bullen's men at the third attempt.

He told the Tele: "You look at the table but we just focus on who we are playing next.

"It's been a hard week at training and going into it we'll set up properly for the game and be ready for it mentally and physically.

“The fans will be there and we're definitely due a win in the league against Ayr.

"It is one of the teams that I want to beat as well."

A win would see Dougie Imrie's men overtake the Somerset Park men, who side two points above Ton in third place.

With a draw and a defeat against Ayr in the league games so far, the 25-year-old is anticipating another close encounter with very little to separate the sides.

But Quitongo has warned his team-mates to expect a strong reaction from Monday's opponents after they suffered back-to-back defeats against Partick Thistle and Dundee.

He said: "We expect it will be another close game, it will be a battle.

"I know they are on a two-game losing streak. We are full of confidence, but they will be as well going into it as they are unbeaten in the league against us.

"We just have to stick to what we are good at, show our qualities, and I am pretty sure it will be a good game for us.

“We have been really good at Cappielow, we just need to start well and hopefully we carry that through the whole 90 minutes, and I am sure we will get the result."

Quitongo believes Morton showed strong character to fight back from two goals down to draw against Raith Rovers last Saturday.

And the ex-Queen's Park man feels hard done by after his second-half penalty claim was waved away by referee Matthew MacDermid.

He added: "The manager said it in an interview we felt sorry for ourselves after the first minute when I squared the ball to [Cameron] Blues.

"It is a great chance, I think it would have been our quickest goal this season. Then after about 20 minutes we conceded the two goals.

“Then we woke up and started playing how we play, and we got the two goals before half-time.

"We had chances to win the game, and we should have.

"The foul on me was a penalty, but it is it football, we have to keep going and move on to the game against Ayr which we are all looking forward to."