JIM McAlister says it’s an honour and a privilege to be named as Morton’s club captain for the season.

The 32-year-old was confirmed as the new skipper after he wore the armband in the first competitive game of the season against Ayr United last Saturday.

He wore the armband on the odd occasion in his first stint at the club, but this is the first time he’s been officially handed the permanent role of club captain.

The ex-Dundee and Blackpool midfielder is hoping it’s a role he can flourish in and is looking forward to leading out the Ton against Stenhousemuir at Cappielow today.

He told the Tele: “It’s an honour. 

“It might be a sign of getting old as well, but it’s a good dressing room and a good group of boys and it’s a privilege to lead them onto the field on a match day. 

“I might have got the armband once or twice when I was here before due to injuries and suspensions, but to be actually made club captain is something I can hopefully thrive on.

“It’s a good feeling, the manager has maybe seen wee bits and pieces throughout pre-season and training, whether it’s been talking in training.

"If we can get five or six captains on the field on Saturday it makes a massive difference, if you have five or six talkers and a few younger boys involved then it can help them through the game and that’s for the good of the team as well.”

While results haven’t gone Morton’s way in the opening two Betfred Cup group games against Ayr and Partick Thistle, McAlister personally was happy to just get out on the field again.

The midfielder has been troubled with injuries over the last 15 months after breaking his leg and then injuring his knee, and he says he’s hopeful of getting back to his best soon. 

McAlister added: “Having not played for about 15 months, I’m beginning to feel like I’m finding my feet again on the field.

“The first game was good for the first 45 minutes, I thought we looked pretty solid and then we just seemed to collapse in the second half.

“I don’t know what you can put it down to, perhaps because of a new squad of boys or whatever, but the goals we lost were disappointing.

“The other night we started the game okay, the boy then produces a once in a lifetime hit. 

“Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and accept goals like that. We were disappointed with the second one but I felt the reaction the boys showed in the second half shows the potential in this squad.

“It gives us a platform and it sets a standard for us as a team and we shouldn’t fall below that standard now.”

While the Betfred Cup has drawn criticism from some quarters for being so early in the season, McAlister says it’s something he and his team-mates need to perform well in.

After two defeats, the midfielder is hoping a winning run starts today against Stenny.

He said: “Ultimately the results need to come and that hopefully starts today against Stenhousemuir. Hopefully we can get the performance and the result.

“You want to get good results at this stage as you want good habits, ultimately it’s a results-driven business, and we want to get into a habit of being hard to beat and picking up points as often as we can.

“A lot of people’s opinions are split on this League Cup section being so early in the season, but we ultimately want to win every game and get into that habit and we want to start with that today.”