MORTON boss Jim Duffy insists his team are ready for the step-up in competition this afternoon as they head to Fir Park to take on Motherwell in the Betfred Cup.

Ton, off the back of a 2-2 draw with League One outfit Queen’s Park on Tuesday night, visit North Lanarkshire as the underdogs against Steve Robinson’s Steelmen. 

But Duffy reckons his players should be excited at the prospect of squaring-off against Premiership opponents.

He told the Tele: “Of course we’re looking forward to the game this afternoon. It’s one of those where you’re playing against a team from a higher level and everybody knows they have to up their game.

“That’s really what we probably need at this time, just that next level to try and get us a bit further down the line in getting prepared for the league campaign. We’ve played Berwick from League Two, Queen’s Park from League One and now you move to a Premiership side like Motherwell, so that is still quite a big jump. 

“If you were organising pre-season matches, it is the kind of thing you’d like to do, which is have a tough match and see where you are in terms of fitness and organisation.

“But this is a cup competition which you still want to win, it’s not a pre-season match, but in terms of the type of game it sends a message to the players that they need to be ready. 

“That’ll be the test going to Fir Park, we need to concentrate better, make sure that we’re a bit sharper in every department.

“You just want to be a bit closer to the levels you want to be at as each match rolls around.”

Duffy admitted he was a bit disappointed with his team on Tuesday night after they failed to capitalise on several goal scoring opportunities in the first half against Queen’s Park.
But he says it’s time for the team to move on from the draw because they’ll have to focus all their attention and energy on ‘Well to stand a chance of coming home with a good result.

He said: “We don’t look too much at the reaction, you get it after every game good bad or indifferent, you just move on. 

“Sometimes after a good performance things are a bit more buoyant and after a poor performance things are a bit flatter. But you have to move on no matter what, you can’t let anything linger in the background too much.

“It’s about preparing for Motherwell, making sure that the players are relaxed and match-ready because it’s going to be extremely tough.”