MORTON playmaker Ali Crawford says that the progress the Cappielow side has made in the six months that separated their two most recent visits to Firhill is clear to see.

Nothing could separate the sides in the two fixtures in the north east of Glasgow as the duo exchanged blows in an opening day scoreless draw back in August before sharing the spoils in a 2-2 draw last weekend.

Ton were on top form at the top end of the pitch (Image: Gary Bradley) And despite being pegged back late on against the Firhill side last weekend Crawford says that his side have set the standards they must meet in the coming months.

Ton are idle again this weekend, having been knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Ayr United back in November, but the Ton midfielder says that the Cappielow side can head into a busy period full of confidence after showing spirit in the Firhill thriller.

He told the Tele: "You can absolutely see the progress that we've made as a group between both games at Firhill.

"First of all without stating the obvious we scored twice. We showed character again, having then conceded to go up the park and get the second.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't hold on to get the three points. Again, we keep our unbeaten run going and we showed that we're a tough team to play against at the moment.

"But hopefully that's us set our standards for the rest of the season and we can continue doing good things heading into the run-in.

"There's plenty of games coming up now. It's going to be Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday until the end of the month.

"We've just got to keep ticking over, doing what we need to do to recover the best we can and keep putting in good performances, hopefully getting more points."

Shaw has impressed since his return from injury (Image: Gary Bradley) Crawford couldn't hide his delight for fellow midfielder Nathan Shaw who continued to impress on his comeback from a serious hamstring injury.

The former Inverness Caley Thistle man added a goal and assist in an impressive showing in Maryhill last weekend, making it four goal contributions in seven Morton starts.

And the former Hamilton Accies and Bolton man says that the wide player's quality is there for all to see as he backed him to play a big role in the second half of the season.

"We're all delighted for Nathan," he added.

"He's had a tough time out. Obviously, he's injured at the start of the season, but he's worked hard to get back in.

"He had a little blip, but, again, since he's come back in, he's assisted twice and now he's scored and assisted last weekend against Partick.

"We all know the quality that he's got because he shows that day in, day out in training.

"He's starting to produce it in games now, so it's only got to benefit us going forward.