ALLAN Moore claims Morton must improve defensively after his side's 2-2 draw with Albion Rovers on Saturday.

The Cappielow side beat Hamilton 1-0 last Thursday and overcame a Nigerian select 4-2 later the same day.

But Moore reckons Saturday's pre-season clash with the Third Division outfit was a more realistic yardstick of how far his new-look Ton side have progressed.

He said: "There was a bit of indecisiveness in defence and I now realise why we lost so many goals last year.

"With no disrespect to Albion Rovers, the amount of shots they had on goal and crosses they were allowed to get into the box was not good enough.

"But it was a good exercise for myself and Mark McNally.

"The games up until Saturday had been a bit tippy-tappy, but the Rovers match gave us a more realistic perspective.

"To be fair, the players are just finding their feet and we switched teams at half time, but there are things we now know we need to fix before the start of the season.

"On the positive side, I thought Carlo Monti did well in the second half and the Nigerian trialist scored with his first touch, so we are taking him down to England to have a better look at him.

"I was also happy with Allan Jenkins. He put himself about well.

"He needs to lose a bit of weight but he knows that and he is starting to look like the player he was with Stranraer a few years ago." Moore, whose side now travel to England this week to face Blyth Spartans and Gateshead, was more encouraged by the earlier victories over Hamilton and the Nigerian select last week.

He said: "Against Hamilton, the boys did well. It was a nice big park and they got a good run-out.

"The game at night against the Nigerians was on Astroturf and there were a few tackles flying in but the boys coped well.

"I was a bit disappointed with some of the defending. There was a bit too much playing around with it near our box.

"I want our central midfielders playing with it in their half and not ours."