STEPHEN Welsh believes that three is the magic number for the Morton defence. 

The on-loan Celtic starlet stood out with his performance against Arbroath after he moved into the centre of David Hopkin’s defence following Brian McLean’s injury in the opening quarter of an hour.

Welsh is now hoping that the Ton boss sticks with a three-man backline, as he believes he’s best suited playing at centre-back.

He said: “If the gaffer sticks to playing a back three then hopefully I could get a decent run at centre-half.

“I don’t mind where it is as long as I can keep learning and playing, right-back or centre-back.

“I’m happy to play anywhere because it will make me a more versatile player for the future and it can be something I have up my sleeve when I go back to Celtic.

“A run in the team in the middle would be good though, especially here with two home games coming up.

“Folk hate coming here and you can see that. The Arbroath players were moaning at half-time about how physical we were and tough we were for them.

“We’ve got Brora Rangers and Dundee United coming up so to continue playing at centre-back would be brilliant for me.”

Welsh believes that his performance on Saturday was his best since joining the Ton on loan from Celtic.

He told the Tele: “That probably was my best game in a Morton top on Saturday.

“I’d obviously started right wing-back, which is probably the furthest up the park I’ve played in my life.

“I was still getting a start which is a good thing and it was unfortunate that Brian McLean had to go off injured and the gaffer told me to slot in at centre-back after that.

“I was pretty happy with that because it’s my normal position and I’ve played there for as long as I can remember, so I just felt so much more comfortable with everything about the game when I was in the middle.

“In my opinion it’s probably where I’m at my best, in the middle of defence.

“We got a clean sheet, which I was delighted with, but most importantly we got the win.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie, Welsh said: “Brora are cruising their league and they’ve cruised through the rounds of the Scottish Cup already, so it’s going to be a challenge, they’re good going forward.

“We’re good going forward too, so we can test their defence and hopefully we can get a run of clean sheets on the go now.”