Morton aim for 11 unbeaten as they face Arbroath at home

It reached double figures last Saturday as they advanced to the last 16 of the Scottish Cup courtesy of a routine win over League One Montrose.

Their reward for that is a home draw against familiar cup foes Motherwell which is something to look forward to.

Between now and then, however, they have two important league fixtures as they look to climb into the play-off slots, with tomorrow's game followed by a trip to East End Park to face a Dunfermline side who have beaten them twice already.

Ton didn't really reach the heights during their cup clash against the Gable Endies, despite making a bright opening.

In the early stages of the match it looked like they would blow their opponents away on a blustery afternoon on Sinclair Street.

They were busy in the opening stages and created a number of openings, but seemed to rest on their laurels somewhat after captain Grant Gillespie's penalty kick broke the deadlock.

The home side got stuck in a bit of a rut during the first half, dropping off the pace and allowing Stewart Petrie's men to settle after weathering the storm.

The visitors, well marshalled at the back by vastly experienced Sean Dillon, began to grow into the game and even came close to equalising when they hit the bar.

If Dougie Imrie hoped that would shake his side out of their lethargy it was in vain, as they continued to look leaden-footed and too happy to play square passes or go back the way.

The fact that the boss was not overly enamoured with their approach was summed up by the number of substitutions he made and those changes helped lift the tempo, with Lewis Strapp, Alexander King, Lewis McGrattan, Michael Garrity and Jack Bearne all getting their chance to come off the bench after half-time.

Morton looked more comfortable after George Oakley was in the right place at the right time to tap in the second goal on the 51st minute.

Subs Strapp and King in particular made a good impact on the game, with Montrose suitably quelled and never looking like they would mount a comeback as the match petered out.

On an afternoon like this, against underdogs, Ton were always on a hiding to nothing and it was simply a case of getting the mission accomplished without any dramas.

The game was also valuable for the fact that it allowed Jai Quitongo to get more minutes under his belt, as he clearly needs a bit of time to get back up to full throttle, while Calum Waters also got a decent run-out too following his recent comeback from injury.

To get through with the minimum of fuss with no injuries sustained and a clean sheet recorded to boot isn't a bad day's work.

That said, the manager was right to fire a warning shot to his players about standards and will no doubt make it clear to them in training this week that they will need to raise the levels tomorrow.

Arbroath might be struggling to get themselves away from the foot of the table, but they will still be a different kettle of fish to their Angus neighbours.

Morton's well documented hoodoo against them was finally brought to an end in December with the hard-fought 2-1 triumph at Gayfield.

But it'd be a mistake to just assume that the dam has now broken and another victory is automatically on the way to keep the current hot streak going.

Ton have had enough trouble from them at Cappielow over the years to be braced for a potentially tricky afternoon.

And the fact the Red Lichties are desperately scrapping for second tier survival has to be taken into account as well, along with the fact that they have collected more points on the road than at home this season.

Since Jim McIntyre took over from Dick Campbell in early December there hasn't been the kind of immediate bounce they may have hoped for.

But there have been a couple of surprise positive results along the way, with a victory in Inverness and dramatic draw away to then-league leaders Raith Rovers in particular showing that they have a bit of fight left in them just yet.

The most obvious reason for their plight is the fact that they cannot keep the ball out of their net, and that could be a key factor.

While Morton might need to be patient at times, the suspicion is if they can test the visitors' backline enough, keep putting them under pressure and asking questions of them, then they should be able to get a bit of joy at some stage.