ANDY Barrowman wants Morton to show the strides they have made since losing to Ayr United on the first day of the league season.

Jim Duffy’s men begin the second quarter of their campaign with a match against Mark Roberts’ fourth-placed Honest Men at Cappielow this afternoon.

Hitman Barrowman, who has scored two goals in six appearances so far this term, reckons Ton have made progress since that opening day defeat and says they can prove that today.

He told the Tele: “We’re a different side now from what we were in that first game of the season against Ayr. I think we’ve grown as a team since then.

“At that point we were very new and just getting to know each other. It was a completely new team barring one or two of the players.

“So it was going to take time to gel. You can’t just put that amount of new players together on a pitch and expect them to have an understanding.

“Plus, it was a young side as well. A lot of our players hadn’t played much first-team football; they’d maybe been playing under-20s.

“But we can’t have those excuses anymore. We’ve played plenty of games together now. We’re an improved side who has an understanding, while the younger boys have games under their belt.

“We won’t go into this game looking for revenge thinking they’ve beaten us, but we want to show we have improved since the first game by beating one of the teams round about is in the league.

“And it’s an important game in that respect, because if we win, we can put a bit of daylight between ourselves and Ayr. We’ve been doing well at home too, so we want to continue that run.” Barrowman netted the opener in last week’s win 2-0 win over Stirling Albion but was forced off with a cut above the eye which required stitches.

The 29-year-old had hoped to come back on, but could understand manager Duffy’s decision to put David McNeil on in his place with the patch up taking around four minutes.

He added: “It was just a small cut just below the eyebrow. It wasn’t a bad one; it only required two or three stitches.

“It happened at a corner. Three or four of us went up for a header and the boy’s elbow just caught me.

“I was hoping to just get the bleeding stopped and to get stitched up after the game, but the physio Alyson [Fielding] said it was too deep and needed some stitches.

“The doc came down from the stand and stitched me up. It was just taking too long and the manager had to make a change because it was a critical point in the game.

“We couldn’t afford to play with 10 men any longer, so he had to put on another body to get us back up to 11. It wasn’t anything to do with me wanting to come off or having to come off.

“I was gutted about that – but it was a great sub. David McNeil came on and scored, so it was an inspired substitution!” But Barrowman is confident he will be fit and available and ready to start should he be selected today.

He said: “The stitches will come out after the game; I think I’ll just leave them in until then. It shouldn’t be a problem. I can’t see it opening up again so won’t have any concerns about playing.”