MORTON manager Jonatan Johansson has called for level heads from his players against Falkirk this Saturday.

The Cappielow crowd is likely to be fired up for the fixture against the Bairns with former Ton boss Ray McKinnon, right, in the dugout.

The circumstances surrounding his departure have made it a huge match for Morton, with McKinnon opting to move to their Championship rivals after just three months in Greenock.

The club are looking to get compensation for McKinnon, assistant Darren Taylor and fitness coach Graeme Henderson after they all jumped ship to Falkirk.

With all that going on, Johansson is keen to try and keep his squad focused on getting three points against the league’s bottom team.

He told the Tele: “It’s a very important game for us, it’s important for me as a manger to keep my own and the players’ focus on the game and the task ahead.

“There is going to be stuff around the game, I understand that but that’s something I need to get into the players’ minds when the game goes ahead.

“The players’ full focus needs to be on the game and the opponent, and not get involved in the stuff that might be talked about around the game.

“It’s one of those ones that the club is dealing with and something that happened before me, and I’m focusing on the team.”

Despite the Bairns’ lowly position this season, Johansson says they as well as the rest of the teams in this league will be more than competitive.

Recently Csaba Laszlo left Dundee United while Partick Thistle sacked Alan Archibald.

Johansson believes part of the reason for clubs to change managers has been the high expectations in the division to earn promotion.

He added: “This league is tight, I knew that when I came in. 
“We can see that with Dundee United and Partick Thistle changing managers recently.

“It’s a tough league and the expectations for a lot of the clubs were very high, and a lot of them were expecting and hoping for the promotion places.”

Both Morton and Falkirk have had two weeks to prepare for the clash with the international break in place and the sides out of the Irn-Bru Cup.

Johansson said it was a good opportunity to work on the players’ fitness in the build-up to Saturday’s clash.

He said: “We concentrated on a lot of fitness work with the ball, and with the bounce game against Rangers and to work on fitness levels.

“But we mostly worked on getting the players ready for this week and get back the boys who have been injured to hopefully be back for this weekend.

“It also gave us a chance to give some players who had knocks a rest.”