MORTON boss Gus MacPherson has urged his players to build on their successive clean sheets by defeating Hamilton in today's crucial Cappielow clash.

The Ton chief has watched his side fight out two successive goalless draws over the last week but insists his team has plenty of attacking intent.

He believes they have only been thwarted from breaking their scoring drought by some strong defensive displays from their opponents.

MacPherson told the Tele: “We’re not setting the team up purely to defend and you can see that with the likes of Robbie Muirhead, Gavin Reilly, Tom Allan and Gary Oliver all playing in the last two games.

“We’ve got an attacking threat on the park with Reece Lyon coming in as well.

“There’s certainly an attacking intention from our side of things but there are times when you have to give the opposition a little bit of credit for the work that they put in too.

“Sometimes you have got to say that it’s tough in the Championship - because it really is.

“That’s why any point that you can collect at any stage of the season is a valuable one.

“What was frustrating against Partick Thistle on Tuesday was the fact that we had that chance at the end with Alan Lithgow that was blocked on the line.

"We just have to take that on the chin and wait for the next one to come along."

MacPherson says that today's game has 'added significance' after the results during the week.

He added: “We can’t influence other results, we can only focus on ourselves.

“We’ve got to try and close the gap on Hamilton and have the chance to do that today.

“We are at home, which we need to make the most of, and if we work as hard as we did on Tuesday night and play like we did then we’ll give ourselves a chance against a very good side.”

A key man today could be the aforementioned Lyon, with MacPherson saying he's been delighted with the resurgence of his form in the middle of the park.

He revealed that he asked the midfielder to channel the frustration of a disappointing year and a half and use it in a positive manner.

The manager said: “We’ve told Reece that he’s got to use his frustrations in the right way.

“He’s probably been a little bit annoyed that he’s not been in the team, so we’ve challenged him to flip that into a positive in the way he performs - and he’s done that.

“I’ve been delighted for him with the impact that he’s had.

“I’d spoken to him in the middle of last week after a bounce game, challenging him, and he’s not done himself any harm in the way that he’s performed against Queen of the South and Partick.”