JACK Baird is eager to repay Morton gaffer David Hopkin by steering the club away from relegation danger after extending his loan deal to the end of the season.

The 23-year-old has impressed in his 17 appearances since signing on loan in the summer from St Mirren, scoring three goals in the process.

Baird admitted that he’s relieved to get his short-term future sorted as he can now concentrate on his football again.

He told the Tele: “I’m happy to be staying, because I wanted to get it done for a wee while if I’m being honest.

“It was a bit awkward not knowing what I was going to be doing, whether I’d be waiting til the end of my loan to see if I was going back or if I was staying, but it’s sorted now.

“It’s out the way and I can just get it out of my head and concentrate on the football side of things now.

“The gaffer has been great for me. I’ve enjoyed working for him and all of the staff along with the players as well, Scottish football is quite a small community in itself really, so I knew a lot of the boys from playing against them.”

“I’ve really enjoyed the whole process of getting to know folk and playing with them.

“I’m benefitting a lot from being here and I hope I can continue to learn as I try out something different.

“Obviously I’ve played for the same club for virtually all of my career, so this is all new to me, in terms of going out on loan.

“It was a whole load of firsts for me, going to a new club and getting to know a new dressing room.

“I’ve tried to make the best of it and I’ve really enjoyed myself so far and I just hope that I can do even more for Morton as the season goes on.

“First things first, we need to get away from the bottom two, then we can see where that takes us. I owe the gaffer a lot so I just hope I can repay him in good performances.”

The centre-half believes Ton must secure a victory when they welcome Dunfermline Athletic to Cappielow on Saturday so that their impressive away win against Arbroath isn’t a false dawn.

He said: “Hopefully the only way is up now. That was a really good win for us on Saturday against Arbroath, especially when it was our second on the bounce, which many didn’t think would happen.

“Hopefully we can go from here, because it won’t be as good a result in the long run if we don’t win against Dunfermline on Saturday.

“Hopefully we can kick on up the league and make that game in hand that we’ve got an advantage for us as well as trying to win at the weekend.

“We owe Dunfermline one in a way because at home, I felt as if we were well worth a win and we didn’t and then when we played them at East End Park, we didn’t have the greatest of games, it was tough for us over there.

“We do kind of deserve to get a win but we’ll need to work hard for it.”