MORTON manager Jonatan Johansson has praised his players’ character after they put the Ayr United hammering behind them with a solid display to secure a point at Inverness.

Heading north to face the only unbeaten team in the league was far from the ideal trip after the Ton were thumped 5-1 the week before.

But Morton were much improved and took the lead after nine minutes from Charlie Telfer.

Jordan White equalised just before the break for Inverness and the hosts piled on the pressure towards the end of the game.

But the Greenock side stood firm and managed to earn a vital point at the Caledonian Stadium.

Johansson was relieved his players’ hard work paid off and there was no repeat collapse against John Robertson’s team.

He told the Tele: “That performance was needed.

“All week we’ve been working on our shape, our defensive strength, being hard to beat and crosses into the 
box.

“Last week was unacceptable, everyone agreed with it, the way we lost the second goal and just crumbled.

“Saturday was a very pleasing performance in terms of attitude and work rate and the way we kept together and fought for each other.

“The way Inverness play they are always going to cause you trouble because they are very offensive, very open and they put a lot of crosses into the box.

“We started both halves very well and we created some good chances.

“The second half we started really well because I was disappointed with the way we lost the goal just before half-time.

“It was avoidable. We had a chat at half-time and I said we needed to get back out in a positive frame of mind and we did, and we played well.

“We could have gone 2-1 up, but to be fair to Inverness they had some pressure towards the end.”

The club appointed Mark Farrell as their new head of football science and medicine late last week, and he joined Johansson in the dugout on Saturday.

The role had been vacant after Graeme Henderson left the club to join former Ton manager Ray McKinnon and Darren Taylor at Falkirk last month.

The 29-year-old has worked with Motherwell and Kilmarnock’s youth academies previously, as well as working as Albion Rovers’ head of sports science last year.

Johansson reckons the UEFA B licence coach will have an immediate impact on his side, after a number of injuries hit his squad in recent weeks.

He added: “Mark comes with a great CV — he has worked in football before, he has taken coaching badges, so he understands the group dynamics in football.

“It’s important for us as well as we have a few injuries and it’s hard to work out if I’m training them too hard or not pushing them enough.

“He’s come in during the last few days and he’s on top of that. 

“We’re going to get fitter and hopefully our injured players will be back soon.”