TON boss Dougie Imrie is anticipating a tough game as his side travel to Livingston this afternoon - and says he's optimistic that his team's goal drought will end soon.

The Morton manager admitted the team’s lack of goals in their first two fixtures was a point of frustration, but said there have been plenty of positives to take from the Cappielow outfit’s goalless draws against Partick Thistle and Hamilton.

And while the Ton supremo knows that David Martindale’s side are no mugs, he is hopeful his side can come away from Almondvale with a positive result.

He said: “It’ll be a tough game. Davie’s done a remarkable job at Livingston to keep them in the premiership the seven years that they were there.

“Obviously they’ll be disappointed with getting relegated last season, but their team’s still full of Premier League players, so we know the task at hand .

“But it’s one we’re looking forward to and one we’ll embrace, and hopefully we can go there and come away with another positive result.”

While Morton have not found the back of the net in their first two Championship outings, opportunities have not been in short supply, with Michael Garrity, Owen Moffat and Jay Emmanuel Thomas among those who saw chances go a-begging against Hamilton.

But Imrie believes that the goals will come for his men.

He added: “The only frustration is the lack of goals at the moment but hopefully that will turn soon.

“Everybody could see two weeks ago against Hamilton we made numerous opportunities and some were very good clear cut opportunities, it was just that final bit.

“The keeper made a couple of greats saves as well from Michael [Garrity].

“On another day you come away with a two or three nil victory, but credit to Hamilton: they stuck at their task.

“And they could have nicked it at the end too.

“With the amount of opportunities we had, that would’ve been a travesty, but that’s the Championship. No game’s ever easy and everybody’s capable of beating anybody on their day.

“I’m really pleased with a lot of aspects at the moment. We’ve had two clean sheets on the bounce and hopefully the goals will come and they’ll be there tomorrow.”

Imrie says that while there are players in his squad who are still getting to know the ropes of his new system, he can already see patterns of play beginning to develop.

He said: “Twelve players were brought in over the summer, but you can see good parts of that already.

"Obviously I would love a few more points on the board with the two performances, but we have to build on that, and we’ve got another opportunity to go and try to get a positive result.

“There are a lot of players still familiarising themselves, because we’re asking them to do different things from what they’ve been asked to do in the past.

“But I can see patterns developing in every game and we have to keep at it. It’s the right way to do things and that’s what we want to do here.

“We want things to get better every day, and the players will get better every day.”