MORTON defender Jack Baird says the William Hill Championship never fails to deliver in terms of competitiveness – but he says that his and his side’s objectives won’t differ despite how tight the league sits this year.

Ton sit fifth after two games, failing to score despite not conceding and Baird says his side will do what they can to compete and get to the 40 point mark as quickly as possible before looking any further.

And he says it’s an exciting time to be involved in the Cappielow camp with a sea of new faces coming into the club over the course of the summer as the club move in a new direction under the eyes of Dougie Imrie.

He told the Tele: “At the beginning of every season, you think this league couldn’t get any tighter and then you see how tight it is this year and you’re wincing at the thought of it.

“I would say that there’s no real favourite to go on and win it, potentially. There’s naturally teams who fancy themselves to go and do it.

“But our goal stays the same every year. Get to the 40 point mark as soon as possible and see where we go from there.

“Our goal for the season is just to compete, stay in our lane and see where it can take us “There’s a lot to be excited about around the club just now. The gaffer’s recruited well.

“All the boys are very good players and it’s slightly different in terms of the style that we had before. But they’re all good players who’ve played at a good level before.

“I’m happy to see new faces coming in, it keeps things fresh despite seeing some good mates leave the club. But that’s what football’s like it happens all the time.”

Baird couldn’t hide his delight at being back out on the park after missing the last three weeks through an injury to his shoulder.

As he revealed his frustrations, pointing to the remains of medical tape strapped to said shoulder, he was just glad to have been able to help the team continue their defensive prowess as they recorded back-to-back clean sheets.

He added: “I was out for a little while with a daft injury to my shoulder, which was frustrating. That meant I had to miss out on three weeks all in, which is never great at the end of pre-season where you’ve really worked hard to get up to speed.

“Being back on the bench last weekend was more for a cover point of view – so I’m glad to be back and to get 90-minutes because there’s no worse time to get injured right at the start of the season.

“So yeah, I’m delighted to be back in, I’m delighted to have gotten another point and a clean sheet to boot. I’m just happy to be back in.”