JACK Baird won a title with St Mirren — and now hopes to lift Morton up the Championship table.

Baird arrived at Cappielow on a short-term loan deal late on transfer deadline day.

The defender, who has made over 100 Championship appearances for Ton’s Renfrewshire rivals, played a pivotal role in the their title win in 2018 under Jack Ross.

The 23-year-old says he will use that experience to help shore up David Hopkin’s defence and help Ton challenge at the top end of the

division.

He told the Tele: “The gaffer spoke to me on the phone and what he said made it even more of a no-brainer for me to join.

“He’s obviously got a good track record with playing younger players and he’s put a lot of faith in me bringing me in that late in the day.

“I’ll obviously be looking to repay him.

“I’ve got experience at this level, having played three seasons in the Championship and I love it, I really like this league.

“There’s some good quality players and a lot of very good teams competing in it.”

Baird says dropping down a division to get regular first-team action was an easy decision after being used sparingly by St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin.

He added: “I’d played in all the friendlies and then in the League Cup group but then it came about that I wasn’t going to be playing as much and obviously I didn’t want to spend a lot of time sitting on the bench or up in the stand.

“I can’t help but get annoyed when I’m not playing, because you only get just over ten years as a footballer, it’s a short career.

“So when it was the case that I wasn’t going to be playing I spoke to Jim Goodwin and asked if there was any chance I could go out on loan and get some games under my belt before January.

“He then said that Morton were interested, and I was delighted with that.

“They were very keen to take me, and you can’t knock that back, I’m happy it’s done.

“It was Jim who brought up that Morton were keen to take me, and when someone shows that level of interest in you, you don’t mess about — you just get it done.”

Baird is keen to hit the ground running and help his new team-mates make up for last week’s 5-0 hammering against Inverness Caley Thistle as the Ton return north to face John Robertson’s men in the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup on Saturday.

He said: “It’s a tough test to start with, but we’ve still got a few days training to settle in and get used to everyone.

“I’m looking forward to

it, it’s a good way to get started.

“I’d watched the first half last week and there didn’t look much between the sides and results like that can sometimes happen in football.

“I just hope that this Saturday it’ll be a better result.”