Morison is still awaiting his Whites debut after arriving from Norwich City as part of a January deal that took the Whites' top scorer Luciano Becchio to Carrow Road.
The Welsh international missed the weekend’s 1-0 loss at home to Championship leaders Cardiff City with a slight thigh injury but could make his Whites bow in Saturday’s clash at Wolves in which Leeds' away form will again come under scrutiny.
United have lost their last four league games away from Elland Road and Gray knows a vast improvement is crucial if Warnock’s men are to successfully chase down a six-point gap to the play-offs.
Minus the services of Becchio, Gray consequently feels that Morison needs to start with a bang.
“Steve Morison has caused us plenty of problems in the past and when he was playing at Millwall he was a good centre forward,” said Gray.
“Obviously he has had a little blip this season in the Norwich side but they have been playing in the Premier League.
“Hopefully he can come in here and pick up the mantle like Luciano Becchio and score goals for us.
“That’s what we need, we need a centre forward who is going to score goals. We never had a centre forward on Saturday and we never scored a goal.”
Morison, 29, has netted just twice for Norwich this term but in the previous season he bagged nine top-flight goals for the Canaries plus one in the FA Cup and one for Wales.
In the two previous campaigns the Non-League recruit from Stevenage was prolific for Millwall, slamming in 21 during the 2009-10 League One season and 15 Championship strikes the following term.
Morison netted what proved the winner in his most recent clash with Leeds for Millwall in April 2011 and Gray is praying the six-foot-two ace can recapture his old sparkle.
“Morison has obviously played at the highest level,” said Gray. “He has played for his country and played for big clubs. You just hope he regains the form he showed a few years ago when he comes into the team.”
That seems likely to be this weekend at fourth-bottom Wolves and Gray knows Saturday’s clash at Molineux followed by Tuesday night’s trip to Middlesbrough will go a long way to deciding United’s season.
“The next two away games will probably give us an insight as to where we are going to finish,” admitted Gray.
“If we can pick up six points it puts us right in the hunt but we’ll have to improve if we are going to win away from home and we keep saying that every week.
“It’s not happened yet and it’s got to happen sooner rather than later. Otherwise you are going to find yourselves out of touch with the top six.
“I watched Wolves playing last Thursday night against Leicester and I was actually impressed with them but we can win at Wolves if the players play to their maximum.
“But we have said that about a few away games and we’ve got to make it happen.”
Source: LeedsUtdMAD
Source: FOOTYMAD
