MORTON’S Cameron Salkeld says he is in the first team to stay after an impressive performance against Inverness helped his side to a crucial win.

The English attacker hopes that his start was the first of many as he looks to retain his place when Morton welcome Ayr United to Cappielow tonight.

He was delighted to be given the nod by gaffer David Hopkin and is now determined to become a mainstay in the starting eleven.

He told the Tele: “I’m glad to get on the pitch.

The gaffer had shown a bit of trust in me to put me in from the start in a big game.

“I hope that I’ve repaid him for that. 

“I worked my socks off and was tired towards the end of the game. 

“He [Hopkin] had mentioned changing it before the game and when he said I was in I was buzzing, so hopefully I’ve done myself a bit of justice.

“This was my chance, so hopefully I can kick on from here and get some more appearances and more starts and get going from here.

“It was a great result, especially for Bob McHugh getting two good goals, but it’s a stepping stone for us because the three games this week are massive, so we take the three points and move on.

“Tonight will be a massive game, so hopefully we’re in for another good one.”

Salkeld will be hoping to grab his first goal for the Ton against the Honest Men and end his hoodoo after seeing a third goal that he was involved in cruelly ruled out by whistler Euan Anderson against Caley Thistle on Saturday.

He believes that he can form a successful partnership with McHugh after the pair caused havoc in the first half against Caley.

Speaking about the disallowed ‘goal’, he said: “I’ve made the run to keep myself onside and Bob’s played it back towards me. 

“I will admit that it was a shot and I thought that it might trickle in.

“I’ve seen Reece Lyon there and thought all you need to do is tap it in and it’s just my luck that the ref has blown for a foul after it’s gone in.

“I thought it was a perfectly good goal but that’s now the third — or fourth if you count what happened at Hibs in the Betfred Cup – hopefully the luck changes soon.

“I’d said to Bob before the game, ‘I’ll do all the running in behind and you go and grab the ball and use your strength’, and that’s what we did and we had a relative amount of success in doing so.”