INJURY-plagued Morton star Conor Pepper says he finally felt fit during the under-20s fixture against Clyde — only to be cruelly ruled out for even longer.

Pepper, whose knee problem flared up during the clash with the Bully Wee, was starting to feel like himself again on the pitch before the injury.

He told the Tele: “I wasn’t training 100 per cent at the time because I wanted to manage it. I got through two 20s games where I played 45 and 60 minutes.

“The manager spoke to me a couple of days before the 20s game [against Clyde] and says ‘we need to really just try and up [rehab], I know you’re nervous about it but if it goes, it goes and we know something is wrong’.

“I knew I needed to try to get back to contention, which was fair enough. I knew that myself.

“In that 20s game I was just going to go out and try to forget about it. 

“I felt good, I felt fit. I’d done every type of movement I could do, and after one slight pass I could feel it and knew something was wrong again.

“I needed a couple of days after that to re-evaluate.”