GARY Oliver says friendship will be put to one side when he makes his Falkirk debut against former club Morton - only a month after leaving Cappielow.

The forward made the switch to John McGlynn’s side earlier this summer and will return to Greenock where he spent five years across two different spells for the first fixture of the season in the Premier Sports Cup group stage.

The striker still can’t quite believe he will be returning to face his former club so soon after departing.

While the 26-year-old still has a special bond with many of his ex-team-mates and backroom staff, it will be put on the backburner come 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

He told the Tele: "It is mental going back to Cappielow so soon after leaving.

"I can't believe the first game is against my old team.

"I am looking forward to being back at Cappielow. I played there for ages so I know how it is.

"Hopefully we get a good result and see a few old faces."

The 26-year-old knows how difficult it will be to win at Cappielow - but he insists the Bairns are well equipped to come away with a result.

Oliver said: "We have a good team, we have a very good group of players that could challenge most teams.

"You need to be confident going into games, there is no point not being confident.

"We have good characters in the dressing room at Falkirk and they are good players as well.

"There is no way we can’t see ourselves going to beat Morton, we know it is going to be a hard game but we have every chance of beating them."

Having spent the best part of six months in Dougie Imrie’s side, Oliver has made his Falkirk team-mates well aware of the challenges they will need to overcome to get their campaign off to a flying start.

He said: "I obviously played there for years so I know it is a tight pitch, they know how to use it and they know how to play well on it.

"Anybody I speak to going to Cappielow knows they’re going to get a hard game.

"They make it difficult and any team going there would find it hard.

"We will need to try our best and see how we get on. Morton are a good side, we know that and we need to give them respect for that.

"We’ll try our best and you never know what can happen."

The former Ton frontman believes that if his side perform to the standards McGlynn has set they will be in with a strong chance of pulling off a victory.

He said: "We just need to play the way the gaffer has been asking us to.

"We need to play some good football and get into good areas. We have players that can do a wee bit of magic and create an opening for us.

"We need to win the battle first. Going to Cappielow it is a battle first and foremost, you need to win that before you can get the right to play. The boys know it is going to be a challenge, but it is one we are looking forward to."

The former Morton hitman says the League One side have aspirations of getting out the League Cup group and potentially going further in the competition.

He said: "As a player you want to try to go as far in these competitions and play against good teams and at good grounds.

"This is the place to do it, you need to try and get a few wins early doors and you never know where it could take you."