MORTON favourite Derek Lilley insists his former side must capitalise on their consistency this season by sealing a Ladbrokes Championship play-off place come the end of the campaign.

Ton have brought a level of reliability this season that Lilley claims hasn’t been around the club for a decade, and he says Jim Duffy’s men need to take advantage of that by continuing to win big matches on their road to a possible promotion push.

Lilley was part of the Ton team that were promoted from the Scottish Second Division in 1994-95, and almost made it back-to-back promotions a season later, before they were pipped to the post by Dundee United on the final day.

The ex-striker reckons now is the perfect time for his former employers to confirm their credentials as play-off contenders - and they have to win their ‘monumental’ next few games in the hunt for promotion.

He exclusively told the Tele: “There’s no doubt about it, Jim Duffy has transformed the team. I think he’s brought quality into the team, they’ve improved and I think the biggest thing that Morton have improved on is consistency.

“If there’s one thing you need, if you’re going to do anything in any league, you need a level of consistency. From what I’ve seen, they’ve not had a bad spell since the beginning of the season.

"Obviously you’re going to lose games but they’ve not went on a six, seven, eight game losing streak.

“They’ve been consistent and that’s worth its weight in gold in a league as difficult as that.

“They’re constantly picking up points and that’s a massive credit to Jim Duffy, Hagi [Craig McPherson] and the coaching staff, the club in general.

“I think this is one of the first times in my memory since Morton have went up a league and actually kicked on and improved. 

“It’s something that the team have lacked in the last 10/15 years, that ability to go up a league and continue to improve.” 

He continued: “I would think Morton will want to play down their ambitions of going into the play-offs. But deep down they’ll have ambitions of getting there.

“We’re two thirds into the season, they’re sitting joint third with Falkirk, the next four or five games could be monumental for cementing that play-off position.

“You’ve got to take these opportunities when they come. It was unfortunate, we ran out of steam when we nearly did back-to-back promotions but lost out to Dundee United. That would’ve been the 95-96 season.

“It went down to the last game of the season when we drew 2-2, but we had to win. 

“We were confident when we got promoted that first time, we had a very good team.

“We had the Finnish boys over [Marko Rajamaki and Janne Lindberg] so we were confident. 

“If you get the opportunity, you have to try and grab it.”

A question that has faced the Greenock club in recent years is whether or not Cappielow is ready to host Ladbrokes Premiership opposition. 

The facilities on Sinclair Street could be improved in the eyes of the SPFL standards book, but new chief executive Warren Hawke has plans to take the club forward.

Lilley believes wholeheartedly that the details come secondary to the action on the pitch, and that Ton should be doing everything they possibly can to push for promotion as soon as possible.

He said: “Whether the club is ready for that yet in terms of infrastructure and things like that, most people might say they’re not quite yet, but that’s almost secondary because if the opportunity comes — you deal with it.

“With the players playing so well at the moment, they have to grab it with both hands if it comes. Especially with the leagues the way they are now, next season is going to be just as tough if they don’t make it there this season.”