MORTON goal-den boy George Oakley says the best season of his career so far is the result of being given a platform to play with freedom.

The 28-year-old Englishman has netted 13 times in 29 games for the Ton this term and knows it could have been even more but for missing half of the season through two severe injuries.

He believes that the return shows just what he is capable of.

Oakley said: "It's the best season I've had returns wise.

"When I was fully fit and running, within two months I think I scored something like nine goals in seven games.

"It shows what is possible and who knows what I could be sitting at if it had not been for the injuries.

"But regardless, I am grateful for what I've achieved, especially for the club. I've enjoyed every moment since I walked in through the door.

"I take the positives out of everything and I will for sure take the positives out of this season on a personal level as well as a team.

"If I could finish the season with 15 goals, from 31 games, it would be brilliant. That's essentially one goal every two games which is pretty good, especially with how hard it is to come back from injury lay-offs and get back up to being fully fit again.

"With every injury I've been put straight back in, which is something I wanted to do, there was no time to regain fitness. That was because of the depth of the squad we have here, which is smaller than a lot of others.

"People don't realise that at times. If we're missing two players, then we're missing people off the bench because others will maybe be being pushed into the starting eleven. It's tough.

"When you do come back from injury here, you're expected to be back 100 per cent - but that's never the case because it's hard to be instantly back to the way you were before, everyone tells you that. You need at least two or three games.

"So I've been happy with the way I've come back every time and managed to kind of hit the ground running."