JAMES MCPAKE believes Greenock Morton have "drastically" changed their style of play and is gearing up for a tough test this afternoon.

But the Dunfermline gaffer wants his side to take confidence from how his personnel is looking as they aim to secure just a second win of the Championship season.

The Pars sit ninth in the table, only above bottom side Airdrieonians on goal difference, but they can move to within a point of their sixth-placed opponents with victory.

Morton, who are yet to win on the road in the league, with two wins and two losses, were 5-0 winners on their last trip to KDM Group East End Park in February, but lost each of the other three meetings between the clubs last term.

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Athletic go into the game having reached the SPFL Trust Trophy quarter-finals, as did Dougie Imrie's side, having beaten Kelty Hearts last Saturday, which came after a league draw at Airdrie.

With the likes of Kyle Benedictus and Kieran Ngwenya returning to the squad, which could also be bolstered by a return for goalkeeper, Tobi Oluwayemi, McPake thinks his team are in a good place to pick up a crucial three points, but is wary of the threat of their opponents.

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"The performance was good last week in terms of chances created and our opportunities to score goals," he said.

"I thought we looked pretty dangerous at the top end of the pitch. Two goals was enough in the end, but I think had we scored three or four last week, it would have been deserved.

"We've got to take a bit of confidence from the fact that we're creating those and getting players into dangerous areas. Chris Kane is now off the mark, obviously. He's got two in two. Matty (Todd), he's off the mark for the season. That’s the positives, we're into the next round of the cup, but it's no disrespect to Kelty, but we're now against opposition of a higher level in our own league.

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"It's a tough game. It always is. They've changed the way they play pretty drastically, in my opinion. They've recruited to play in a way.

"Regardless of that, it's going to be a tough game, they went to Hamilton and won last Friday night in the cup, they beat Raith the week before as well, so they'll be coming here full of confidence, but we're in a good place at the minute in terms of where our squad is at.

"We now believe most of them have got the match minutes in their legs as well. We're now at a good level, so there's a few we need to get up to speed a little bit, but we're confident as well with how the squad is looking.

"It's now just trying to keep that consistency in our performance that we've shown over the last couple of performances. Keep the consistency level of the performances high and go out and perform tomorrow again and by doing that give us a much better chance of getting another positive result."