MORTON striker Gary Oliver believes that he has been able to show off his growing maturity in his performances after his summer arrival from Queen of the South.

The fans' favourite, who is enjoying his second spell at Cappielow, has impressed in his five outings for David Hopkin’s side, including netting the goal that sparked the dramatic comeback against Ayr United.

He believes that his time away from the club has helped him grow and that Ton can benefit from that after a fast start to his second stint at the club.

He told the Tele: “I’ve been able to go away and play at Queen of the South and gain more experience of playing in the Championship.

“It was good to get a goal against Ayr, it maybe relieved a bit of pressure off of me personally because you never want to go too long without scoring your first goal as it can play on your mind a little bit.

“When I was younger, I was always told to use your experiences to help you and I never really gave it any second thought but now that I’m back at Cappielow I understand what that meant and I feel that experience is helping me through games.

“I’ve played quite a lot of games in the Championship so every game is kind of familiar now, I know what to expect and how I can influence a game and I do feel as if I’ve come back a more mature player.

“I’ve gone away and become a better player for it and hopefully after a decent start to my second spell at the club, Morton can reap the best of that.

“The first time around, I probably played some of my best football here but now I feel probably the fittest that I ever have. I’m feeling strong and sharp so I’m ready to have a right good go at it this year.

“From a young age my strength was always being able to hold the ball up, it’s always come quite naturally to me.

“I’ve always been able to take the ball in, hold it up and hold off defenders before slipping it off to a team-mate, that’s always kind of been my game and I’m glad it's working so far this season.”

Oliver concedes that Ton need to create more in the final third and is adamant that he and his team-mates are working hard during the week to convert more opportunities when it matters most.

He believes that the task will be made a lot easier with Ton's rock solid defence behind him.

He said: “We as strikers need to create and take our chances as well.

“That’s something that we’re working on, to get more chances in games for myself and the other boys up front to hopefully get on the end of.

“If we could create some more chances and put them away then I’m sure that we can go and achieve something because bar the Raith game, we’ve not been conceding a lot of goals."