GARY Oliver reckons the introduction of new players at Morton will benefit the squad this season after admitting his side ran out of steam last season during the Premiership promotion play-offs.

Oliver was delighted at the amount of game time he was afforded last term but he acknowledges that most of the squad played over 40 times in all competitions. 

While he wouldn’t want to yield any of his own playing time, he’s happy to see fresh faces come into the pool to spread the workload this coming campaign.

He told the Tele: “I think you need to rest the limbs a wee bit because it was a long season. Especially with some of the boys playing around 40 games. 

“It’s definitely the first time I’ve played that many games in my whole career so far, so I needed a wee rest and then I’ll be back to full speed again.

“The gaffer tried to give us a rest [last season] and we had days off here and there, but it’s such a small squad that he couldn’t change anything too much and we couldn’t rest or it would slow us a wee bit.

“But hopefully next season with a few more players coming in to give the boys a bit more rest. 

“Not that we would ever want less game time, but maybe just to even it out a wee bit more and make it a bit easier for some of the boys.

“It was a hard season for some of us who played a lot of games and a lot of minutes. 

“There were a lot of heavy legs especially, but I’m sure it’ll be a different story next year. In saying that, I enjoyed playing all the games and I would never choose not to.”