MORTON centre half Sean McGinty says he intends to play every game as if it’s his last after the most turbulent year of his career.

Little did the 26-year-old know that when he scored his first goal of the season against Arbroath that it would be the last kick of a ball he’d have before Covid-19 shut down life as he knew it.

The towering defender admitted that the lockdown has taught him to relish every single game.

Now he wants to finish off what he and his teammates had started following their impressive form from the turn of the year.

McGinty told the Tele: “It’s been crazy, you’d never have thought that the game against Arbroath would have been our last for near-on seven months.

“You’ve got to try and play every game as if it’s your last and I won’t be taking anything for granted this year.

“It’s weird to think that my last-minute goal that day would be the last time I’d touch the ball for so long.

“It was great timing really because it would’ve been horrible to go into that long-forced break on the back of a home defeat.

“I was delighted because it was my first of the season anyway but over the course the lockdown it became apparent as to how significant it was.”

McGinty admits he will always harbour a sense of ‘what might have been’ over the campaign which ended early.

He said: “Who knows what could’ve happened? I think we could’ve gone and taken something off Dundee United the following Saturday and then with seven or so games to go, we could’ve finished really well.

“It was disappointing for me that the season ended when it did because I’d only signed for six months originally so everything was touch and go.

“When I’d left Partick and came here, I was thinking it was a bit of a fresh start for me.

“I was just getting into my stride after about four or five games, which is all that I’d had to play before it all got stopped.

“It had taken me a couple of games to get used to everyone but then we were starting to look up the table.

“We were beginning to think, ‘hold on we’ve got a chance here’ — but obviously what happened took that out of our hands.

“We weren’t able to play that game against United and that was disappointing because we’d done everything well in the build-up to it.

“It was a massive blow to get told on the Friday it was off — and then you’re not back in the club doing anything for six months.”

McGinty is pleased to finally be back in training after he and the rest of the squad reported back to Parklea on Monday. Ton will step up their preparations next week as they count down to facing Queen of the South in their Betfred Cup opener on October 6.

McGinty said: “It’s been so good to be back in amongst things again and we’re all positive about being back.

“It got to the point where maybe some of us were wondering if we’d ever be back, so I think everyone is just grateful to be back kicking a ball again.

“We’re all just looking forward to the games starting up and I think that really showed in the way we trained this week. We’ve all come back in decent shape and started really well, so that just shows you how keen we were to be back in amongst the banter of the dressing room again.”

McGinty says the foundations of a competitive squad are in place, but admits he would like to see some new faces arrive to bolster the pool.

He said: “We’ve got a good nucleus here but I think that the gaffer will look to add two or three more bodies as soon as he can. We probably need to do that before the first game.”