MORTON boss David Hopkin has told Reece Lyon he needs to work very hard if he wants to get back into his starting eleven.

The 19-year-old hasn’t featured in nearly two months, after rolling his ankle in a reserve game.

The Ton boss has called for Lyon to remain patient and graft for a chance to get back into the side.

He told the Tele: “I’ve got 21 players in this squad and I know that seems a lot of players but we’ve done fantastically well to get these players in with the budget that we have.

“We’ve got a young squad and I was looking at the bench against Queen of the South and I had to leave John Sutton out, because I needed somebody else on the bench and we’ve still got Cameron Salkeld and Reece Lyon who weren’t in the 18-man squad.

“Cameron has been out injured with his thigh as has Reece with his ankle.

“Reece is a fantastic talent, he’s a fantastic kid with fantastic ability but he realises now that he’s got to work hard because I’ve got players in there now who want to play every game.

“You need to remember that he’s a 19-year-old kid, he’s a fantastic talent and I’ve spoken to him about it.

“He needs to be patient and he needs to work hard in training because there’s also players like Kris Doolan as well, who’s taken a knock and having to work hard to get back into contention.”