MORTON goalkeeper Ryan Mullen says he and his teammates are desperate to avoid a potential SPFL Trust Trophy banana skin when they travel to Cowdenbeath in a fortnight’s time.

Mullen was present at Hampden for yesterday’s draw and although he’s looking forward to ticking off another ground within the game, he says that July’s Premier Sports Cup defeat to East Fife still remains in the back of his mind.

Ton have failed to progress past the quarter final stage of the competition in the last three seasons but they have gone out to the eventual winners or runners up in that time.

That’s something Mullen takes as a positive as he looks to build on those performances and go one or two steps further this year.

He told the Tele: “I’ve not played Cowdenbeath before. So it’s a team that’ll have its own challenges.

“We look forward to that but we’ll have to ensure that we prepare for it right and then look forward to the game and go there trying to get a result and go through to the next round.

“At the start of the season, we slipped up at East Fife. It’s well documented. Even though it was the early part of the season, its stuck with us and we’re looking to avoid a repeat of that.

“Hopefully it’s one that we can go and put right against Cowdenbeath.

“I think if you look at the club’s runs in the cup in the last few years, they’ve gone out to either the runners up or the winners.

Ryan Mullen says Morton will be determined to avoid a banana skin when they face Cowdenbeath.Ryan Mullen says Morton will be determined to avoid a banana skin when they face Cowdenbeath. (Image: Alex Craig)

“It shows you that we’re able to compete with the winners or the teams who are able to get there.

“You want to go and be there yourself so hopefully we can go and progress further than the quarter final.

“But we’ll not get too far ahead. We just take it a game at a time and see for far we can go.”

Last season the cup provided ample opportunity for Mullen to establish himself as Ton no.1 and he hopes that he can do the same again this year.

He looked back on the game that really kicked off his Cappielow career as he eyes the chance to keep the no.1 jersey his own.

He added: “We’ll just need to see what happens. I'd love to play every game this season that I can.

“I had the same mindset going into last season so when I was called upon I was always ready to play and try to take my chance.

“That’s what happened in the cup against Airdrie, even though it wasn’t a good result. I thought I’d gone out there and showed what I can do.

“Hopefully that’s the same this year and we’ll see how we go.”