MORTON manager Jim Duffy described Saturday’s goalless draw with Albion Rovers as ‘unpleasant’ — but insisted bagging a bonus point made for a more appealing end to the afternoon.

The Greenock men drew a blank with the League One outfit as they opened the 2016-17 competitive campaign with a Betfred League Cup group fixture.

After a drab 90-minute stalemate, proceedings were livened up by a newly introduced post-match penalty shootout, which the Ton won 4-3 to earn a second point.

Cappielow gaffer Duffy felt the spot-kick showdown added a level of entertainment that was missing from the match.

Specifically, he felt his team’s attacking play was ‘way off the mark’ and confessed that there is still a lot of work still to be done to reach the level required.

He told the Tele: “It certainly wasn’t a pleasant game. Sometimes you just get those first games that don’t catch fire and everybody is just finding their feet a bit.

“From my point of view you can look at the positives. We got a clean sheet and we looked organised — but the link-up play and the creative play was way off the mark.

“That’s always the part that takes the longest to click, so we keep working away at it and hopefully improve as the games go on.

“When it’s not a very attractive game, the penalties add something at the end of it. It’s a difficult one because you could go and sit in and defend the whole game and win on penalties. 

“Maybe you’re better [having penalties] if it’s a goalscoring draw, but then it would be getting a wee bit complicated. 

“But, as I say, when it’s a game like today’s, the shootout provides a bit of excitement and we got the bonus point at the end of it.

“A wee bit of radical thinking doesn’t do any harm. 

“I think they’ll look at the competition as it goes on and analyse what was good and what wasn’t so good when it’s finished.”

When asked if the competition starting so early meant that there was a pre-season vibe to proceedings, he said: “I don’t think there was from the players or myself, no. Once you’re in, you’re in. 

“You can hear it in my voice. My voice is going after screaming in the dressing room.

“It was the first game and it was definitely a bit scrappy and the players were still getting to know each other a bit. We had a lot of new players, with Michael [Doyle], Jamie [McDonagh] and Gary [Oliver] starting, Caolan [McAleer] on the bench, and young Lewis [Strapp] and Dylan [Stevenson] as well.

"And we tried a slightly different shape as well. So from that point of view it gives you an opportunity to do that a bit. But overall it certainly was not an attractive match.

“I thought first half we were okay. We played alright and controlled most of the game and had a couple of chances. There was nothing too much in the game and Albion had a good chance just before half-time on the counter-attack where Andy [McNeil] made a good save.

“I thought the second half was a bit scrappy and there weren’t too many goalmouth incidents at all; I can’t remember many saves from either goalkeeper to be honest.

“Albion were very organised with two banks of four. They denied us space and defended very well - their two centre-backs were excellent – and credit to them, they nullified us to a large extent.

“We did similar. Both defences did pretty well, so the negative side of the game gets a pat on the back, the creative side has a bit to go. We didn’t make the right choices in the final third. Today we are a bit frustrated because we realise there’s still a lot of work to be done, but we won’t go overboard about it.

“We take the organisation, work ethic, fitness, the clean sheet and try and improve on the passing, the link-up play and the understanding of how we want to play. That will come as the games go on.”

Besides Ross Forbes’ miss, Morton’s penalties were expertly taken, and Duffy revealed it was a possibility they had prepared for.

He explained: “We have been practicing and the thing that does is gives you an idea. But we didn’t have a set five because we didn’t know who would be on at the time.

“Jon Scullion was off but he would have taken one if he was on, as would have Jamie [McDonagh]. But I put Tiff [Scott Tiffoney] on simply because he has a really good penalty, a really good striker of the ball.

“I put him down to hit second because I didn’t want him hitting one of the pressure penalties, the first or the fifth one, because he’s only 17.

“The other ones were the experienced players: Michael [Tidser], Ross [Forbes], Lee [Kilday] and Tam [O’Ware], and Michael Doyle was going to be the sixth.

“In the end we missed one and Andy [McNeil] saved two. It’s just strange that Ross took two penalties in training and put them in the opposite side with real pace.

“Then today he decided to go a different way. I don’t know if he was trying to prove last week’s [miss against Partick Thistle] was a bit of a fluke – but he’ll not be on them now!

“Was he going to be our regular taker? No, we didn’t have one set but I’d say that at this moment in time it will probably be Michael Tidser. He’s had one in closed-door game and one today.”