Midfielder Andy Murdoch joins until January

Morton are pleased to announce the signing of former Rangers midfielder Andy Murdoch on a short-term contract until 15 January 2017.

The 21-year-old trained with the club at Cappielow this morning before putting pen to paper on a deal and goes straight into the matchday squad for tomorrow’s Ladbrokes Championship fixture against Dundee United.

Murdoch made 23 appearances in four seasons at Ibrox as well as spending time out on loan at Cowdenbeath and Queen of the South, for whom he started against the Ton at Cappielow on Tuesday 15 March (pictured, top), last term.

Ton boss Jim Duffy told gmfc.net: “Obviously I’m delighted to be able to bring in another talented young player who can add competition to that area of the pitch.

“We know when everyone is back fit and ready, we will be really strong in that area, but at this moment in time we’re really stretched by injuries and I felt it was important to try and bring someone else in to help us compete.

“It was something we’d spoke about for the last couple of weeks with us assessing the injuries, with Michael Tidser and Conor Pepper in the midfield area and moving Thomas O’Ware back in [to defence] with Lee Kilday and Ricki Lamie out.

“The only two natural midfielders we have available at this moment in time is Ross Forbes and Jamie Lindsay, and we had people recommended to us, but I would rather have somebody I know of and knew about.

“Andy Murdoch was someone we were well aware of from Rangers and Queen of the South last year. He was very unfortunate with the situation at Rangers because he was playing pretty regularly in the first-team under Stuart McCall.

“Things can change quickly in football and unfortunately on Andy’s side it didn’t quite work out, but to play a decent amount of games in the first-team at Rangers tells you he has quality.

“So I’m thrilled Andy has decided to join us and once again grateful to the chairman for supporting me and allowing me to bring Andy in. The contract is until January and we’ll assess things again then.”

Image: Gary Bradley