MORTON skipper Jim McAlister has urged his team-mates to ignore results around about them ahead of their must-win clash with Alloa on Saturday. 

The midfielder insists that the Ton can put some distance between themselves and the Wasps, who currently occupy ninth and tenth place propping up the table.

He hopes that the result could drag the likes of Partick Thistle and Queen of the South back within touching distance as they look to get back up towards the right end of the table.

However, McAlister insists they can’t let their attention turn to other results and must focus on their own performances as they look to stave off the threat of relegation.

He told the Tele: “If we can get a decent result we can put some distance between ourselves and Alloa, but another way that you can look at it is that if we get a decent result hopefully you can drag teams above you back into the scrap.

“There’s that incentive to add to the importance of the game.

“We can’t affect what goes on elsewhere, we can only concentrate on ourselves.

“At the end of the day there’s no point looking about because this league throws up those kind of results every weekend anyway, so we’re prepared for that.

“There’s no point in coming off after a game and then getting annoyed because another team has won.

“The only folk who can affect our season is ourselves at the end of the day.”

The skipper believes that this is the most crucial festive period that he has been a part of in his time in football and hopes that a good run can propel the Ton back up the table.

He is looking forward to getting stuck in with the fixtures coming in thick and fast, as well as having to rearrange the postponed fixture against Queen of the South.

He added: “This the most important Christmas period that I’ve been involved in at any club.

“If you have a good run over the festive season then you can propel yourself right back up the table.

“That’s just the way football works and I’m sure that the league will be like this until the end of the season.

“Everyone gets excited by the fixtures coming thick and fast over this period, I just hope that we can take advantage of that and have a good festive period.

“It would give us a lift going into the New Year, the three games coming up are massive for us.

“I don’t think we can look beyond the next game. 

“It’s important we focus on the Saturday, train for it and then go out and give our all for that Saturday and then the next one will look after itself.”