MORTON boss Dougie Imrie has offered a bleak update surrounding the fitness of Jack Harkness by confirming that the Rangers loanee is set for months on the sidelines.

The 19-year-old came to Cappielow from Ibrox on a temporary deal on September 27, as the Ton chief sought cover in the right back berth.

But disaster struck days later in the warm up before what would have been his first appearance, against Airdrie, as he tore his hamstring.

Harkness needs surgery to repair the muscle and it seems unlikely he'll ever play for Ton as a result.

Imrie says he sympathises with the youngster and everyone at the club as it faces a continued injury curse.

He told the Tele: "I signed Jack on the Thursday and he got injured on the Saturday in the warm up. He then had to go and get an operation and that's the fifth op we've had this season already.

"He's another player that's going to miss a long spell. It was a reoccurrence of a hamstring injury that he'd suffered at Rangers.

"He'll be out for two, three months or maybe more. It's just the luck we're getting at the moment - it's been horrific.

"You go and bring in a defender to try and ease a situation where you've lost two players in that position the week before, and you lose him before he's even kicked a ball.

"But we'll keep fighting and keep giving it our all."

Imrie says he remains confident that his side can get off the foot of the Championship table ahead of today's crunch clash with fellow strugglers Caley Thistle.

He said: "A couple of good results will breed confidence through the boys and hopefully we can get back to the mentality that we had last season where we were turning up and winning games of football without even thinking about it.

"I've been in their situation before and it's difficult to try and get out of it, but one or two good results will go a long way into changing that."

Imrie also issued a rallying cry to supporters as he urged them to turn out in force tomorrow to back their side.

He said: "We've got a good group of players here and certainly the fans have been terrific not only with them, but also myself.

"All I ask now is that we as a group, fans included, all stick together and fight through this, as we'll certainly come out of the other end of it.

"We need everyone getting behind the team from start to finish. We saw it last season, with the backing that the fans gave the boys. We saw where we ended up.

"A lot of that is down to the backing that the fans gave us both home and away. All that I ask is that they come down and back us again on Saturday."