MORTON boss David Hopkin says he will use his threadbare squad wisely in their first pre-season friendly today against Forfar. 

Hopkin has had several players in on trial — including former Brechin City defender Ryan McGeever and ex-Motherwell starlet Jordan Armstrong — as he looks to bolster his backline. 

The Ton manager has welcomed back the reserve side after their warm weather training camp in Portugal and he plans to blood some youngsters into the first team this afternoon at Station Park and against St Johnstone at Cappielow on Tuesday night.

Hopkin admits he’s still short on numbers as Ton gear up for two warm-up games in the space of four days.

He told the Tele: “We’ve got four or five trialists in at the minute and the kids were back from Portugal on Friday and I’ll be assessing them. 

“They’ve come back late but we’ll be taking four or five of them with us.

“I’ll have a think about what players I’ll be taking and who I’ll be thinking will have the best opportunity to go and play, but we’ll be keeping the St Johnstone game on Tuesday night in mind.

“It’s a short time frame to play two games and we need to make sure we have enough players to play both.

“We’re at the stage where everyone has worked hard over the last 11 days before we even play. 

“The players and the staff are looking forward to getting a game, but it’s pre-season so it’s probably going to be two teams playing 45 minutes with an eye on Tuesday. But we’ll be upping it to be ready for the first Betfred Cup game against Dumbarton.

“The players, myself and my staff and the fans are looking forward to it.”