ALEXANDER Easdale believes that Morton's relegation battle is his time to come of age after a whirlwind fortnight saw him pen a new one-year deal and make his league debut for the club.

The 21-year-old striker came on inside the final 10 minutes against newly-crowned champions Hearts on Tuesday night to make his league bow.

With tomorrow's must-win clash against Alloa Athletic looming large, the Ton academy product is putting any personal milestones to one side as he aims to help keep the club he has grown up supporting in the Championship.

Easdale says that he is keeping his feet firmly on the ground as he looks to prove that he is good enough to be the next youngster to make the step-up from reserve to regular first-team football, following in the footsteps of Reece Lyon, Lewis Strapp and Darren Hynes.

He told the Tele: “It’s been a brilliant few weeks for me obviously signing a new contract and then being able to make my league debut against Hearts on Tuesday night.

"It’s been brilliant working with Gus [MacPherson], below, and Andy [Millen].

“It shows you how quickly football can change because I was out on loan at BSC at the beginning of the year and you don’t know when you’ll get your chance when you come back.

“I’ve just got to keep my head down and not get carried away. I need to keep working hard and, most importantly, keep improving in training every day to get more minutes.

Easdale hopes BSC Glasgow can push him into Morton first team picture

“It’s been hard for reserve players this year because our league had been cancelled for this year and I think you could count the fingers of one hand the amount of games that we’ve had.

“To get a deal secured has been great, especially during Covid as it’s been so tough for clubs up and down the country.

“The last two games are going to be tough, potentially a straight shootout between ourselves, Ayr and Arbroath, but every game in the league this season has been tough.

“These are the sort of situations where young players come of age and grow up a bit and I’ll be no different, I need to show what I’m all about.

“I think we have to go out and win tomorrow to put ourselves into a good position going into the final day.

“I’m a Morton supporter as well so it’s going to be nerve wracking having to sit and watch it so if I get another opportunity to come on hopefully I can take it and do the club, the manager and the supporters proud.

“I’ve never been in this situation before as a player. I’ve seen it as a fan sitting in the stands - but this is a whole new ball game for me and it's an opportunity for me to step up and come of age should the chance come my way.”

Easdale believes that the faith shown in himself - as well as fellow team-mates Darren Hynes and Lewis McGrattan - is a good sign for the club’s academy going forward.

And he revealed that he is delighted to be working alongside former mentor Andy Millen again.

Easdale said: “The management have trusted not only me, but they’ve trusted other young players like Darren and Lewis to come in as well and get minutes.

“It shows that they’ve got faith in us to come in and get first-team exposure so that’s a good thing for us.

“I’ve known Andy Millen since I was 17 and I’d come in and train, he gave me my reserve debut as well so I’ve known him for a long time and it’s good to see him and work with him again.

“The fact that they’ve come in and have been prepared to give the youth players a chance gives us a boost as well to go and show that we’re good enough to play at this level, so hopefully we can go and do that now."