DARRAGH O’Connor admits he'll need to bide his time to win back his place at the heart of the Morton defence.

The centre-back became a mainstay in the Ton defence before he was sidelined after breaking his hand against Raith Rovers in October.

The ex-Motherwell man got 90 minutes under his belt on his return to the first-team in the SPFL Trust Trophy against Raith at Stark's Park.

O'Connor is determined to fight for his place but he knows he can’t go knocking on the manager Dougie Imrie’s door looking for more minutes with Ton 10 games unbeaten in the Championship.

But is now hoping to take his chance when further opportunities present themselves in the second half of the season.

He told the Tele: "It was nice to get back onto the pitch for the 90 minutes.

"I had a frustrating time breaking my hand in the Raith game which required surgery.

"The boys have done well at the back, so I don’t have too many complaints about knocking on the manager’s door.

"But I need to take the opportunity when it comes - it is simple as that.

"I had to bide my time, I can’t go in and demand, I just have to wait and be patient and hopefully get back into the team."

With the postponement of yesterday’s league fixture against Ayr United due to a frozen pitch, it means the Ton will have to wait even longer to play in front of their home supporters, having not played at Cappielow since November 26.

O'Connor says they'll need to show more of the determination which saw them battle back from two goals down against Raith Rovers in their previous Championship outing last month.

The Irishman says it has been typical of the side's mentality in recent months as they look to carry on that momentum into the new year when they travel away at Partick Thistle this Saturday.

He said: "Stark's Park is obviously a difficult place to go.

"We had gone their twice already this season, we lost won and we drew one, so we knew it was going to be a tough game.

"Raith had chances to win and so did we, but overall, I think the two teams were very evenly matched and I think a draw was a fair result.

"At 2-0 down, the boys showed great courage and determination to come back and draw the game in the end.

"If you had said to us after they had scored the second goal that we were going to come back and the game was going to finish 2-2 we would have taken that.

"So fair play to the boys on the pitch for getting themselves together and getting back and drawing."