MORTON jumped up to fourth in the First Division last night following a valiant 2-1 Valentine's Day victory over Hamilton Accies at New Douglas Park.

Archie Campbell and David O'Brien were the darlings of the Ton faithful, netting a goal apiece to give their side a much-merited 2-0 lead at the break.

And although Hamilton pulled one back with five minutes remaining, they were left heartbroken after failing to find an equaliser to prevent Allan Moore's men from leapfrogging them in the table.

With injured pair Marc Smyth and Andy Graham, who broke a bone in his foot at training on Monday, joining Stuart McCaffrey on the sidelines, Moore was left with a defensive dilemma.

His solution, and perhaps only real option, was to move Peter Weatherson to centre-back and utilise Thomas O'Ware, who only four weeks ago suffered a stress fracture in his ankle, at right-back.

While Weatherson has history there, dating back to 2004 when he featured in central defence in a 7-1 win at Cove Rangers in the Scottish Cup, a tricky trip to a fellow First Division side is a different proposition altogether.

However, he, and the whole Ton defence, coped admirably, while the real story of the first half unfolded at the opposite end, as O'Brien and Campbell combined to terrorise hapless Hamilton right-back Ziggy Gordon.

The visitors ruthlessly preyed on the 18-year-old's shortcomings with a relentless barrage of lightning raids down the left flank.

The onslaught began in the sixth minute when Campbell scampered after Peter MacDonald's pass and laid off to O'Brien, whose low strike crept narrowly wide of Scott Christie's left-hand post.

O'Brien then weaved his way past Gordon on his way to the byline but saw his attempt to prod the ball back to MacDonald cut out by Martin Canning.

And Gordon was exposed again shortly thereafter, the move ending with Campbell forcing a smart save from Christie with a snapshot from the edge of the box.

Yet when the opening goal arrived in the 24th minute, it ironically came from a move down the opposite side after a mix-up involving one of Accies' most experienced players, Simon Mensing.

The imposing defender was taken out of his comfort zone when Derek Young's pass down the right channel forced him to turn and chase the ball towards his own goal.

And with Campbell using his searing pace to chase him down, Mensing panicked and headed past Christie, who'd raced from his line, leaving the striker the simple task of rolling into an empty net.

Nevertheless, when Ton doubled their advantage five minutes later it was a by-now familiar attack down the left flank which ended with O'Brien twisting and turning inside the box before rifling an angled drive into the bottom right-hand corner.

Shell-shocked Hamilton finally found their feet and finished the half on the front foot, with former Ton man Jim McAlister and Gordon forcing fine saves from Colin Stewart in the Ton goal.

Despite this, it was the visitors who came closest to scoring again when, right on the stroke of half-time, MacDonald met a Campbell cross with a looping header which left Christie rooted to the spot but landed on the roof of the net.

While Ton's second-half performance lacked the fluency of the first 45, they still looked the more threatening side, and only some acrobatic saves from Christie prevented Michael Tidser and MacDonald from extending the lead.

That was, however, until Hamilton eventually began to turn the screw in the final quarter of an hour after Billy Reid threw caution to the wind, making three substitutions and moving to a 3-4-3 formation.

And it was two of those subs who combined to throw Accies a lifeline in the 85th minute. Winger Grant Gillespie worked space on the left and whipped over a cross which Andy Ryan powered past Stewart with a bullet header from six yards.

But the Cappielow men, roared on by team-mates McCaffrey, Smyth and Graham from the main stand, survived the late rally to claim the win which would propel them up the table.

PLAYER RATINGS Morton (4-4-2): Stewart (7); O'Ware (7), Weatherson (8), Evans (8), Forsyth (7); Young (6), Bachirou (7), Tidser (7), O'Brien (8); MacDonald (7), Campbell (8) (Jackson 77, 2).

Subs not used: Di Giacomo, McGeouch, Little, McGinley (gk).

Booked: O'Ware (55).

Hamilton (4-1-3-2): Christie (6); Gordon (4) (Anderson 58, 5), Canning (5), Mensing (5), Hendrie (6) (Gillespie 58, 4); Neil (6); Routledge (5), McAlister (6), Redmond (6); McShane (6), Stewart (5) (Ryan 70, 6).

Subs not used: Kilday, Currie (gk).

Booked: McShane (21), Gillespie (78).

  • Referee: Steve Conroy.
  • Attendance: 1,356.

Tele top man: DAVID O'BRIEN Took it in turns with Archie Campbell to torment Hamilton right-back Ziggy Gordon with their direct style, pace and movement. Capped a particularly impressive first-half display by firing home what turned out to be a crucial second goal, taking his tally for the season to seven.

NOMINATIONS - 5: Michael Tidser. 4: Fouad Bachirou, Peter MacDonald. 3: David O'Brien, Grant Evans. 2: Archie Campbell, Paul Di Giacomo, Darren McGeouch. 1: Andy Graham. Derek Young.