MORTON have fixed up full back David Van Zanten until 5 January with the hope that it might be extended until the end of the season.

The player made an appearance for the club against Partick Thistle on Saturday and manager James Grady said: "He enjoyed it on Saturday the way we are playing, especially the first half. He wants to play at a higher level, which we understand, but we've got him until 5 January for now.

"Hopefully we may get the opportunity to extend that to the end of the season. That's a testament to the chairman who shares the same ambitions as Allan and me." Grady then explained that it was players of that sort of quality that he and Allan McManus wanted to bring to the club. He said: "We want players here who are hungry and ambitious.

"We don't want players who are simply happy to be Morton players for the rest of their careers.

"Some fans might not like that, but we want to get players in who have ambitions to go higher. At the end of the day that will benefit the club.

"That's the bench mark. We want to be up playing at the top of this division, challenging." As for business in the January transfer window, that will depend upon whether or not Morton can move some players out. "It's difficult," said Grady. "Not a lot of players will move if they are going to lose money.

"We may put one or two in the picture as to our plans. Then it's up to them if they want to stay here sitting on the sidelines or get a move to try to better themselves. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Now Grady is hoping to fix up Alan Reid on a loan deal as well as a striker.

Reid also played on Saturday against Thistle and Grady said: "He can play either full back position, but his preferred position is wide midfield." As for a striker, Grady is keeping his plans to himself. It wouldn't surprise, though, if Celtic's Paul McGowan was a name on his list.

The wee striker knows the Cappielow set-up, having been with the club during their successful Second Division title campaign.

Meanwhile, on the injury front, Brian Graham has been doing some straight running at training this week, while Dominic Shimmin is also back doing light work.