Dumbarton 1 - 0 Morton: Duffy glad to be talking football

Morton manager Jim Duffy was more concerned about his side losing 1-0 to Dumbarton yesterday than Neil Lennon's press conference on Friday.

Lewis Vaughan scored in the second half. Morton later had a goal chalked off. Picture Michael Gillen

Duffy’s side fought to the end just as they did at Hibs on Wednesday, however there was to be no late drama on or off the park, with Duffy blissfully unaware of the intense criticism that had come his way.

When asked about Lennon’s views of their Easter Road spat, Duffy said: “Strangely enough I normally watch Sky Sports and read the papers but for the past couple of days I have been watching catch-up TV and box sets. I will continue to do so over the weekend.”

As for the game, which was won by a Lewis Vaughan, pictured, second-half goal, Duffy said: “It is good to be talking about football even if we got beat. Dumbarton were just a shade better in the first half but in the second half it was much more even. I do not see the defeat as a blow to us finishing second or third as if we had been offered a top-four place at the start of the season we would have bitten your hand off.”

A wind assisted free-kick from Michael Tidser that landed on the roof of the net and a Lawrence Shankland close-range effort that found the side-netting was the best Morton could muster early on.

The visitors continued to press and Shankland rattled the underside of the bar from six yards, from the resulting scramble Luke Donnelly shot straight at Alan Martin.

Dumbarton’s first chance came five minutes from the break, when Gregor Buchanan headed a Sam Stanton corner over Derek Gaston, however Mark Russell popped up on the line to clear.

Andy Murdoch came within inches of breaking the deadlock two minutes after the restart but his flashing drive hit a post.

The hosts grabbed the opener with an hour gone when Ross McCrorie released Robert Thomson on the left and he cut the ball back to Andy Stirling who charged into the Morton box . When he was crowded out Vaughan lashed the ball home.

Morton struck the woodwork a second time when Scott Tiffoney curled in an effort that beat Martin only to hit the inside of a post. Shankland thought he had headed an equaliser with 15 minutes left but it was ruled out for a push on Buchanan.

Dumbarton manager Stephen Aitken said: “I have to give our players credit. Everyone wrote us off at the start of the season but we have come up with another big win against a good team.”