Morton supporters may be wondering just how midfielder Ross Forbes could follow up the best season of his career, where his 12 goals and 20 assists helped his club into the play-offs.

But if you thought that his dream year couldn’t get any better, his partner gave birth to twins just after the end of the campaign to cap off a wonderful 12 months.

Now his only concern is juggling sleepless nights with the demands of professional football, but the 28-year-old is more determined than ever to succeed on the park, in order to support his family off of it.

“It’s been a hectic few weeks to say the least,” Forbes said.

“It’s not been the quietest break I’ve ever had. 

“The kids are up about three times during the night to get fed and all that, so it’s hard, but it’s enjoyable as well.

"We came back to training on Thursday and I was joking to the gaffer that it was good to get in for a rest! I’ll be volunteering for extra training now too.

“I’m a first-time father, and it will be the last too! But it’s great. 

“I’m proud to be a father and the two of us will just take it in our stride and help each other out as much as we can.

“I’ve got two people who are fully depending on me now, so it drives you on to do well, make sure you get a new contract or whatever, and think about things after football too. I need to be at the top of my game.

“It’s good to just get back to it as well. It’s been a short break and the boys always keep themselves ticking over during the summer anyway.

“You can see there’s not a lot of fitness lost, and we’re just straight back into it.

“It’s different to how it used to be, and it’s been like this for the last few years now. And it’s better this way.

“It will be hard to top last season personally in terms of the number of goals and assists.

“But that’s a challenge for myself to try and match that or better it. I don’t want to go backwards.”

And going backwards is something that no one at Morton is intending to do, with the players and staff determined to follow up a season where they surprised many by finishing in the top four.

With new signings like Bob McHugh, Gary Harkins and Robert Thomson already in place, Forbes reckons that the ‘Ton are well-positioned for another successful campaign.

“I wouldn’t go as far as saying we’re title contenders, but we put big expectations on ourselves,” he said.

“We want to improve every year, and we don’t want to have a good season and then go backwards.

“Everyone at Morton is looking to improve, and hopefully we can top last season.

“The new boys look good. They were all settling in fine and hopefully they can kick on and play an important part in our season.

“We’ve a much stronger looking squad at this point this summer than we did a year ago. The gaffer has made some great signings, and he might be bringing more in too.

“So far, the signings he has made are looking good, and the squad is looking really strong.

"Hopefully that sets us up for a better start this season. We had a wee bit of a difficult start last season in the league, and I don’t think we won in the first five games.

“If we can take the momentum from last season into this, then hopefully we can hit the ground running.”