MORTON boss Dougie Imrie has backed his side to show their bounce back ability once again and rectify the damage done on Saturday by getting a positive result against Highland league side Brechin City at Cappielow tonight.

Imrie's men welcome the Glebe Park outfit to Greenock just days after being rocked by a shock 3-0 defeat at the hands of East Fife in their Premier Sports Cup group opener, which has left them with a mountain to climb with regard to qualifying for the round of 16 for the second year running.

But he's challenged his new look squad to dust themselves down and pick themselves up to go again against the lowest ranked side in the group and get some points on the board at the second time of asking.

Imrie told the Tele: "You just have to go again, that's football.

"We've had poor results in the past and we've managed to dust ourselves down and bounce back from them and I'm backing the boys to do the same against Brechin tonight.

"That'll be the aim again tonight, but it'll be a tough game against them. Patrick Cregg has gone in there over the summer and has assembled a squad. We'll have to deal with that and go about our business well.

"We had the boys in yesterday we've gone over the goals and looked at where we've gone wrong and reset.

"Hopefully we can now have a positive outcome tonight."

Imrie admits conceding a third goal shortly after half-time on Saturday left his side bereft of any confidence going into the final half hour.

And he says that if they'd have managed to make the most of potential game changing moments then things could've looked a lot different on the east coast as they look now pull themselves off the bottom of the group tonight.

The manager added: "That's the killer. We came out in the second half and made a change, moving Arron Lyall back into the midfield, putting Michael Garrity out wide and Owen Moffat into the ten.

"We were on the front foot for that opening ten minutes of the half and if we could have got a goal in that period you could have been looking at being right back in the game.

"But when you lose a third goal, the confidence just drains right out of you. I thought they stuck at it though."

The Ton chief backed skipper Grant Gillespie to bounce back from his penalty miss that capped off an afternoon to forget in Fife.

Gillespie has had a near impeccable record from the spot in his time at the club, only missing one of his previous nine spot kicks for Morton but Imrie says it's just a case of 'these things happen.'

He added: "We had another couple of chances after that. Cammy Ballantyne has had a header cleared off the line, Grant Gillespie has missed a penalty which again is a massive turning point.

"He's been clinical from 12 yards over the two years that he's been here and these things can happen in football.

"That could have been another turning point in the game if we'd have scored that. But we didn't deserve anything from the East Fife game."

TEAM NEWS

Dougie Imrie could ring the changes after Saturday’s disappointing defeat to East Fife that left them with a mountain to climb.

Ton need to get moving in the Premier Sports Cup group stages and this could see Grant Gillespie Jack Baird and Michael Garrity come in from the start as Imrie looks to get three points against Brechin City.

Dylan Corr and Nathan Shaw are still working their way back to full fitness.