Morton seek first win in over a month as Queen's Park visit

Another home defeat to Dunfermline last week means they have lost four league games on the spin, a run which has pushed them down to sixth place in the Championship.

As it stands their push for the promotion play-offs looks in trouble, and worse still they now have to look over their shoulder as the teams below them come within touching distance.

Crazy as it sounds, if they do not stop the bleeding soon they are going to find themselves dragged back into the dogfight at the bottom to avoid a League One play-off.

Queen's are one of the upwardly mobile teams now in striking distance and you can bet they will be looking at tomorrow's game as a great opportunity to leapfrog their hosts.

All of a sudden, the momentum is with sides like them and the Pars, and Morton's impressive 16-game unbeaten run and journey to the last eight of the Scottish Cup feel like a long time ago.

So what is behind the decline in fortunes?

There's no doubt that injuries have been a big factor hindering the Greenock men in recent weeks.

The absence of key players at a critical juncture of the campaign has hit them hard.

It was telling that they unexpectedly pitched striker George Oakley back into the fray last weekend, just a day after manager Dougie Imrie had stated that the player still hadn't trained with his team-mates since being crocked against Airdrie and ruled out for a month.

This wasn't quite the panic button being pressed, but it did show just how desperately they needed him back in the fold.

In truth it is not just selection problems behind their slump, there is a bit more to it than that.

Ton have come through a busy spell of fixtures which has tested the whole squad, and over the last month they have looked laboured.

They look unconvincing, like a side which is running on empty and lacking in ideas, options and drive.

There is also no doubt that influential figures in the side have suffered a loss of form.

Individuals like Robbie Muirhead and Robbie Crawford have been pivotal figures for them over the course of the season, but they simply haven't looked like themselves of late.

Indeed in recent weeks it is arguably only midfielder Alan Power whose performance levels haven't noticeably dropped off.

Combine all of that with the loss of other players to injury and it is going to take its toll, particularly when the squad is thin and the manager doesn't have a wealth of back-up to draft in.

In an ideal world you suspect that a couple of players would have been benched by now and given a breather during this bad patch of form.

But the lack of alternatives has effectively forced the manager's hand to persevere with people who are not performing at their best, and there is a price to be paid for that.

However with seven games left to play and the division still incredibly tight, there is still a lot to play for.

If Morton can find a second wind from somewhere and put a couple of wins on the board then they'd be right back in contention for a place in the top four, but the congestion in the second tier is very much a double edged sword.

If they cannot manage it then they could find themselves in difficulty all too quickly.

One crumb of comfort for them is the fact that while they have been pretty mediocre over the last sequence of games, they have always been competitive and never beaten comprehensively.

That was the case once again last Saturday as the James McPake's Fifers came to town and narrowly plundered all three points for the second time this season.

It was a game that had 0-0 written all over it from the first few minutes and in the end all that separated the sides was a soft goal and a costly missed penalty at the other end.

Ton 'keeper Ryan Mullen blamed himself for the concession of the winner, but frankly he has very little to reproach himself for.

He has been superb since coming into the side and saved his team-mates on several occasions, and it shouldn't be forgotten that they were only still in the game late on because of a tremendous point blank stop that he made after the deadlock had been broken.

While Ton were going down to the men from the Kingdom, tomorrow's visitors Queen's were continuing their revival under Callum Davidson.

The Spiders are unbeaten in five now and look a team transformed since he came in, having tightened things up at the back.

They have a terrible record against Morton, but everything is pointing in their favour to finally end that trend tomorrow.

So it is up to Morton to circle the wagons, summon up the siege mentality and dig deep as they try to find the spark they need to reignite.

One result might be all it takes to turn things around, but it has to come soon or they will be left with too much traffic ahead of them.