GREGOR Buchanan believes a promotion play-off place is still within Morton’s grasp this season.

The Ton are sitting four points off the play-offs in sixth place.

But they’re also six points off the relegation play-off spot, with the mid-table positions being very congested.

Buchanan says that despite a dip in Morton’s form recently, a play-off place is still within their sights.

He told the Tele: “Fourth place is still highly achievable in my eyes. That’s where the team should be aiming for.

“We’ve got the players who are up to the task of doing that, and if we can get a good run in this league you can move up the league very quickly.”

If the Ton are to start a new run today, it will be a tough task against Ayr United.

The Honest Men are sitting in second after a very strong start to the season, and have managed to hold onto former Morton striker Lawrence Shankland, who has scored 30 goals this term.

Ayr comfortably beat the Ton in their last visit to Cappielow, emerging 5-1 victors, but were held to a 0-0 draw in the last meeting between the two sides, with Morton spurning several chances to win the game.

Buchanan says his side will need to be at their best if they are to come away with something from the game today.

He added: “We probably should have won that last game, but Ayr have done brilliantly this year.

“We’ll have to be up to the task on Saturday as we know they’re a very good side going forward, with the likes of Shankland scoring a lot of goals this season.

“We know what happened last time at Cappielow against them as well, we got a bit of a doing.

“We crumbled and conceded four goals quickly at the end of the game. We’ll have to make sure we’re up for it.”