JAMIE Lindsay was delighted to be back in the Morton engine room with pal Andy Murdoch on Saturday — because he missed the partnership for the few weeks he was out injured.

Lindsay and Murdoch have been a revelation together in the midfield for Ton this season, with the pair doing brilliantly to establish themselves on Jim Duffy’s team sheet every week.

Lindsay puts their success down to them being good friends on and off the pitch, having known one another since playing at under-15s level for the Scottish national team.

He told the Tele: “I was glad to be back in playing with Andy Murdoch on Saturday, I missed it for those few weeks.

“It was brilliant, we play so well together because we know how each other plays. It’s really good, we’re good together.

“I’ve played against him and we just kind of bounce off each other. We’re two similar players who work hard and keep things simple. And we know we’ve got a good understanding of who’s going where.

“The more players play together as well it gets better, so hopefully that keeps happening over the next few weeks.

“I’ve known him for years, I knew him at Scotland. Coming through at 15s, 16s, 17s and 19s with the Scotland squad, so we’ve always been together. We’ve been away for these training camps, so we’ve spent time.

“And playing against him last season when he was at Queen of the South we got to catch up. So we’ve been good pals and we see each other every day here now as well. We are good pals.”

Lindsay was pleased with the 1-0 win over Queen of the South on Saturday evening in front of the BBC Alba TV cameras, and he insists that the victory was all the more sweet because it came at a time when Ton didn’t produce their usual standard of performance.

He said: “It was brilliant. Especially because before the game we were aware how big it was.

“We know we didn’t play our best but at the end of the day it’s the three points that matter, and everyone is delighted.

“Obviously you want to play well, but sometimes it doesn’t matter. You’re not going to play well every week and even when we don’t play well, we stick as a team and keep going.

“We did that on Saturday, especially in the second half.

“That gives us a cushion for the play-offs now. Queens only have eight games left, but we only just need to look at ourselves. That’s us ahead of Dundee United as well and we’ve got two games in hand over Falkirk as well.

“We need to keep our heads down, let everyone else do the talking and hopefully keep getting results and winning.”

The 21-year-old missed Ton’s 2-2 draw with Falkirk and the 1-1 draw at Tannadice against Dundee United, but he believes the recovery time did him and fellow injured stars the world of good.

He added: “The free week probably did help. Myself, Gary [Oliver] is back on the bench, Doyley [Michael Doyle] missed a couple of weeks.

“The boys who had been playing, it doesn’t help them much! But those who haven’t, it helps us.

“It’s a nightmare sitting these games out. I took a few weeks to settle down and there was nothing much I could do about it.

“If the game was last week I probably could’ve been involved, but an extra week makes me feel a bit sharper and better — so I’m quite glad there was no game last week.

“The thing about the squad, we’ve got players here and can deal with it. Tidser came in for example and did really well.

“Saturday’s game I went in and started the first half playing number 10. So with our squad, if anybody does drop out there’s other players who can come in and do well.”