Morton midfielder Ross Forbes has backed teammate Gary Harkins to shrug off his sending off against Motherwell and play a starring role for the Greenock side this season.

Harkins was shown a straight red card by referee Kevin Clancy at Fir Park on Saturday for a high challenge on ‘Well attacker Craig Tanner, but Forbes doesn’t think the setback will affect the experienced midfielder.

Instead, he expects Harkins to bounce back and show his class for the ‘Ton throughout the Championship season, no matter what his critics may say.

“I felt Gary was a little bit unlucky with the sending off,” Forbes said.

“It’s one of those that is a bit of a grey area at the minute, but you’ve seen them given.

“It’s obviously a blow for us to be missing a player of his quality at any time, but we just need to get on with it and I’m sure whoever comes in will do well.

“But I think that Gary will be a key player for us this season. You see the quality that he has on the ball every day in training, and he’s shown in the first few games that he’s still got it.

“I’m looking forward to seeing more of him in a Morton shirt this season and hopefully he can do well for us.

“I think it’s unfair that people have a go at him about his fitness. I’ve seen him in pre-season and I wouldn’t say he’s the unfittest player that I’ve ever seen, he gives 110% every day.

“He hasn’t missed a day’s training since he’s been here. As soon as somebody labels you with something then it can stick, but when you see him first hand, it’s not the impression that you get off of him.

“I’m sure he will be a real success here.”

The arrival of Harkins as well as Robert Thomson from Dumbarton and the return of Jai Quitongo from injury may relieve some of the attacking burden from Forbes this season.

The 28-year-old rose to the challenge of being his side’s main creative force with relish last season, but he is challenging himself to repeat the feat despite the presence of other gifted attackers in the squad this season.

“I wouldn’t say I feel under any less pressure, I put pressure on myself because I want to do as well as I did last season,” he said. “I want to score as many goals and get as many assists.

“From a team perspective though it’s good to have so many good attacking players. There are a lot of guys there now that can chip in with goals.”

Forbes has been frustrated with Morton’s patchy form in their three Betfred Cup outings so far, but he is looking to give them the best possible chance of progressing to the knockout stage by defeating Edinburgh City on Saturday.

“We’re still in there,” he said. “We can’t take Edinburgh lightly, definitely not. The gaffer has been telling us that he’s had them watched, and they are a big, strong physical team.

“They are doing really well at the moment, and almost holding Motherwell on Tuesday night will obviously give them confidence that they can compete against better teams as well.

“It’s only a win that can get us there, and even though we might not still make it depending on what happens with the other second-placed teams, we have to give ourselves that chance.

“We haven’t been at our best yet but that is to be expected. I think when the central defenders like Lee Kilday and Tam O’Ware are back from injury then that will add something as well that we’ve not had in recent weeks maybe.

“But everybody that has been playing has been doing their best, and they’ve been giving a good account of themselves.”