MORTON bring the curtain down on a rollercoaster 2021-22 campaign this evening as they make the trip to Angus to play unlikely league runners-up Arbroath.

Ton secured Championship safety last Saturday despite their 1-0 defeat at home to Inverness Caley, with results elsewhere going their way.

Dunfermline's defeat by Partick and Ayr's draw in Dumfries means neither club can match the seventh-placed Greenock men's points total.

Those two clubs now face a nailbiting evening as they look to avoid the relegation play-offs.

It's a pertinent reminder that Morton were in that position a year ago and had to survive tense shootout games against Montrose and Airdrie.

That they have avoided the same fate this time round can be considered a minor miracle.

Ton were in a mess at the end of last year after a poor start to the season cost manager Gus MacPherson his job.

They'd just been walloped 6-1 at home by Caley, had slumped to the bottom of the division and were staring the prospect of relegation in the face until Dougie Imrie arrived to take over.

He has worked wonders with what is by and large the same group of players that had been floundering for several months, and all of them deserve credit for the turnaround we have seen since.

They embarked on a solid unbeaten home run and notched some excellent victories on the road which carried them out of trouble, so much so that they have been able to lose their last two home games and still secure second tier status with a week to spare.

A brace of defeats at Cappielow was not the way Imrie wanted to finish but he is right to take a more rounded view of what has been accomplished.

The team has looked a little flat in the last two weeks and there is a sense that a bit of fatigue has kicked in with the way they have staggered rather than surged over the finish line.

The most important point is that they got there and can now play this evening's game without any fear factor.

If they could end the season on a high with a victory then that would keep alive the chance of overhauling Hamilton Accies into sixth position, but the main goal was survival and that has been attained.

From that perspective tonight's clash at Gayfield is pressure-free and the same goes for the hosts, whose valiant title bid finally flamed out last Friday against Kilmarnock.

Dick Campbell and his part-time players deserve an immense amount of credit for the way they kept their charge going until the penultimate game of the season.

While the last-gasp nature of their defeat at Rugby Park was a reminder of how cruel football can be, Killie battered them relentlessly in the second half and there could be no argument about the final outcome.

The way the game played out has to have taken a heavy toll physically and mentally on the Lichties, although they still have a second bite at the cherry through the play-offs.

It will be interesting to see how they respond to the crushing sense of disappointment they must have experienced a week ago and Campbell will surely make some changes as he strikes a balance between rest and keeping everyone ready for the tests still to come.

Morton boss Imrie initially said last weekend that tonight's game was a chance to give some of his young players an outing, but then indicated in the Tele this week that there may not be much in the way of change.

There could be senior players just as keen as the kids to impress as thoughts turn to their own futures, and a whole host of decisions have to be made over the coming weeks.

With the deals of all but a handful of the squad set to expire, the manager more or less has a blank canvas to mould the squad his own way.

We will undoubtedly see players leave - some will be thanked and moved on in the wake of two years where the club has struggled to avoid the drop, while there is likely to be outside interest in a couple of others, most notably Lewis Strapp who is on the radar of a number of clubs.

If he does move on then he will go with the good wishes of all concerned.

After around a decade on the books and with over 100 appearances made over the last three seasons, he has served the club well and in turn been given an excellent grounding in the game.

While he is sure to get a good reception, the whole squad deserve a pat on the back for their hard work in recent months.

But the biggest thank-you will rightly go to Imrie for galvanising and re-organising them and inspiring that dramatic turnaround in fortunes, as he now plots a way to try and take the team forward.