Dougie Imrie says Morton can make statement with Ayr result

Ton head to Somerset Park tomorrow full of confidence off the back of a stellar Cappielow victory against Airdrieonians which saw Imrie's men climb to sixth place.

The manager says his side are in a good place heading into the fixture.

Imrie was happy with his side's performance against Airdrie (Image: Gary Bradley) Ayr were given a boost this week when boss Scott Brown ruled himself out of the vacant managerial post at St Johnstone, committing himself to his current club's push for the Premiership - though the Honest Men's promotion bid hasn't been helped by a long-term injury to front man Anton Dowds.

But Imrie is adamant that his side will not be affected all the noise coming out of Somerset Park in the build up to the tie, insisting that his players will be focused on the task in hand.

"It's another tough game," he told the Tele: "Credit to Ayr United; they're at the top of the table and deservedly so at the minute.

"They're playing really well and scoring a lot of goals, but it's up to the boys to rise the occasion and back up a statement victory by going and making another one.

"There's been a lot of things going on at Ayr in the last few weeks, and even in the last few days. But our focus fully remains on ourselves.

"We have to go there and show how good a team we are.

"We're aware of the problems that they've got, but it's of no concern to us. We've analysed their strengths and weaknesses and those are the areas we'll look to target."

Ton are looking up after picking up their first win of the season (Image: alex craig) Imrie also says that even if Ton do pick up three points on Saturday, he won't see it as anything more than an indication that they're moving in the right direction.

"They've been getting a lot of plaudits for the way that they play," he said.

"If we can go there and get a win, we move six points behind them with a game in hand. But we'll keep our heads down and work hard."

Imrie was pleased to see his side put in a complete performance (Image: alex craig) Imrie says his side are full of confidence heading into the tie following last week's result.

The Ton chief was pleased to see his players pull out all the stops against Airdrieonians - even if they could've been more clinical after the Diamonds were reduced to ten men.

"You go into any game wanting to win," he said, but it helps when you can come into a game with a bit of confidence.

"I think that the performance we put in against Airdrie had been coming. I think that in most of the games this season, barring maybe Livingston, we've been all right.

"Saturday was probably a 90 minute performance, which is pleasing - not one where we've started well and then struggled for 45.

"I thought that with 11 we were the better team, and that we should've done better when Airdrieonians were reduced to 10.

"On the ball, we needed to be better and move it that bit quicker. Then we could've isolated their full-backs down to a two-on-one.

"We've still had some very good opportunities, though. On another day it could've been more than two goals.

"But it's only one game. We want to continue that this weekend against Ayr."