Jack Baird hopes Zak Delaney's last ditch tackle can spark Ton recovery

BUOYANT Morton defender Jack Baird hopes Zak Delaney’s last ditch recovery tackle can be the spark that kickstarts the Ton as they approach the halfway point of the Championship season.

It looked as if Lewis Smith had been handed an early Christmas present after an uncharacteristic mistake from Cammy Ballantyne had gifted the Livi forward the chance to go one-on-one with Gary Woods late on in the game.

But Delaney brilliantly recovered to nick the ball away from his toe at the very last minute and keep the scoring level as Ton held on for a valuable point.

Now the towering defender hopes that moment can help spur his side away from the bottom two.

He told the Tele: “You’ll take a point against Livingston all day, especially with it being a clean sheet on top of that.

“It’s one of those ones, where if you draw 2-2 and you’ve let go of a lead twice, it’s a bad point. But with a 0-0 you keep them down to as little chances as possible with a good performance.

“I need to tip my cap to Zak Delaney though with an incredible bit of defending to get back, he showed his pace and composure.

“We then had our chance with Michael Garrity too, so they cancel each other out and you’d have taken a point before the game.

“I know we’re strong at home. But they’re second in the league and flying. You do want to win every game but sometimes you take the point and move on.

“Zak’s tackle could be a really momentum shifter for us because in a situation like that you’d back Livi to go and win the game there.

“Looking after the game as well, results elsewhere have put a load of teams on 15 points.

“I say it every year, it just gets tighter and now everyone's sitting around the same amount of points looking to get their amount for their quarter or half season if you like.

“I do hope the draw sits as a good point that leads into a couple of good results moving forward.

“But every game in this league is a nightmare, you don’t get given anything for free so we just need to keep on working hard and we’ll see where we are come the halfway mark, which is a few games away.”

Baird admits it’d be easy to be deflated looking at the table coming away from the game and seeing that Ton have dropped down to ninth ahead of this week’s trip to Airdrie.

But he challenged his side to use it as motivation and make of the rest of the season what they will as he looks to push up the table in the coming weeks.

He added: “At any other time that point could’ve been a point that pushes you away from the bottom two.

“It just so happens that results elsewhere went against us and we fell down a place.

“This league is just so tight - but you can’t grumble. It is a good point whether that sounds a bit defeatist or not.

“You would though come away from a point like that quite happy and then look at the league and be a but deflated.

“But we only control what we can and its up to us to get what we want out the season.”