MICHAEL Tidser had been an ever-present in the Morton side this season up until Falkirk a fortnight ago — so he was extra pleased with his starring role against Brechin City on Saturday.

Tidser missed the league loss against the Bairns following a sickness bug in the week leading up to the game and admits he was gutted to drop to the bench as an unused sub in the 1-0 defeat.

But he says he felt great against Darren Dods’ basement boys on Saturday and is relieved to have shaken off the bug.

He told the Tele: “The manager always tells us to lay a marker down early in games like the Brechin one to let the opposition know that we’re here to win the game.

“You could see that through the 90 minutes.

“I had a bug the week before the international break so I was raring to go. I had been not well leading up to the last league game and I didn’t trainontheFriday.

“But I was nowhere near it to be honest. I was gutted to miss that but sometimes you have to accept that. I’m fit now and thank God it’s out the way.

“Thankfully now I can concentrate on keeping myself fit for the rest of the season. And we were delighted to get a big three points at a difficult venue on Saturday.”

Tidser feels Ton did more than enough to beat Brechin at the weekend but admits he felt doubtful with only a short period of time left on the clock that they would secure the win.

He was ecstatic to see his midfield partner Andy Murdoch pop up with the goods to lift Morton up to fifth in the Championship table.

He said: “It was a great three points for us against Brechin especially after a couple of poor results previously. With 10 minutes to go at 0-0 you’re thinking that you’ll probably take a point.

“But you’re still desperate to win when you’ve dominated a game like that for so long like we did. 

“The first goal was going to be the elusive one but we got it and managed to see the game out. 

“It was a massive three points that will take us into Dumbarton this week.”