JIM Duffy believes his side will be competing with the Championship title favourites when they head to Tannadice to face Dundee United tomorrow afternoon.

Ray McKinnon’s Tangerines are the bookies’ favourites to end the campaign with the silverware and Duffy shares the opinion that they will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season.

But the Morton manager reckons his side will be ready for the Tayside trip after their winning exploits away to Queen of the South last Saturday.

He told the Tele: “We know that every team in this league deserves total respect and concentration but I think Dundee United are still the favourites to win this league.

“So going to Tannadice you’re then going to play the side that most people would perceive to be the favourites, and probably rightfully so.

“With the squad they’ve got and the size of club they are that makes the focus on the game a little bit more than perhaps some other games. 

“But it doesn’t matter who you play, you’ve got to be ready for that challenge. And obviously we’ll be asking our players to be ready for that challenge tomorrow.”

Duffy has called for his players to reach a level of consistency this season but he says he won’t judge their efforts until further down the line. 

The 58-year-old maintains that a good season is built around constantly picking up valuable points.

He added: “Consistency is something you search for over a period of months rather than a period of weeks. 

“It’s good obviously to get results and boost confidence against anyone in this division because it’s hard enough to win any game. 

“And if you win against the likes of Dunfermline and Queen of the South away it’s good for the players. It instils belief in them that, on their day, they can get a result against anyone. 

“To me it’s not quite looking at that aspect yet in terms of looking at the consistency levels because that comes over a much longer period. 

“Usually it’s the second half of the season when teams start to look at where they are in the pecking order.

“We haven’t got close to playing everyone yet so we have to try and make sure that we make it as difficult a day as we can for Dundee United and we’ll take it from there.”