DECLAN McManus is confident Morton will return to form today and put recent defeats to bed — as well as allow him to get one over on flatmate Jamie Masson in the process.

Frontman McManus missed the shock Scottish Cup loss at Spartans but returned for last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Stranraer.

He is sure that recent slump will be short-lived, however, and that they must begin their recovery by beating Brechin City at Cappielow today.

And although that is the 20-year-old’s primary concern, he is also eager to gain revenge on Aberdeen pal Masson, who is on loan at Glebe Park and shone in their 3-1 win over the Ton in early October.

He told the Tele: “It’s been a hard week, but it won’t harm us. I would say it was just a minor blip, and every team has them at some point in the season.

“I fully expect us to go out today and play the way we did before our last two games and hopefully get the three points and get back where we should be.

“The boys were really hurting from the Spartans game and then we had Stranraer away on a horrible day. It’s not the kind of game you want to go into after a defeat like that.

“But the boys have been upbeat and training well all week. We’re really looking forward to the game today and putting recent results behind us by getting ourselves three points and back up the table.

“It’s very important we get the three points to put things right, because for a team that wants to go and win the league to lose three games in a row isn’t good enough.

“I’m sure we will get back to our best, but I expect Brechin to be a hard team to beat. They’ve got naturally good players in midfield and they’re good at winning the ball back as well as retaining it.

“My flatmate at Aberdeen, Jamie Masson, is actually on loan there at Brechin and I know how good he can be on his day.

“We became pals when we were playing together in the youths at 14 and as soon as we got the chance to get our own place that’s what we did.

“We’ve lived together for nearly five years now.

“He’s from Fraserburgh and since I’ve been on loan at Morton I’ve been based down with my parents in Glasgow, so we’ve not seen each other much over the last few months.

“We’re always on the group chat and the WhatsApp, but we’ve not even spoke about this game. But that’s probably something that’ll come after the game, depending on who wins.

“I’ll need to get him back for them [Brechin] beating us up there. Jamie was really good in that game — but hopefully the boys in our midfield will make sure he doesn’t play well this time!

“As a team, we are going to have to be better than them on the day and we will need to be back to our best to do that, but if we are, I’m sure that will be good enough for us to win.”