JIM Duffy hopes Saturday’s win over Kilmarnock will encourage the Morton support to be positive about the players currently on the club’s books rather than calling for new signings.

The Cappielow club’s fans have been clamouring for fresh faces, with one follower even taking to television to make his point by holding up a sign during Sky Sports’ darts coverage.

Despite those concerns over transfer activity, the Ton have made an unbeaten start to competitive action, picking up eight points out of nine to establish a comfortable lead at the top of Group H.

And although he still recognises the need for additions, Duffy, above inset, believes Saturday’s impressive Betfred Cup success at Premiership Killie has shown there are grounds for optimism, not panic.

He told the Tele: “It was a terrific all-round performance and the younger players have done well again.

“People always want to look at the negative side. There’s too much pessimism and people go on about what you don’t have rather than what you do have.

“Hopefully the fans will support the players we have at the club rather than concern themselves with the players we don’t have or what other clubs have. I think that’s important.

“We’re not getting carried away. We understand that the Championship is a whole different ball game when it comes to knowledge and competitiveness and physicality and all these kind of things.

“But at this moment in time, we have played three games, we have three clean sheets and have eight points out of nine, so I think they deserve a bit of credit and hopefully they get it.”

Jai Quitongo was the latest development squad star to make an impact on the first team, claiming a goal, an assist and a man of the match award in his first senior start for the club.

When asked how big a role he believes the likes of the 18-year-old, Scott Tiffoney, Lewis Strapp, and Dylan Stevenson can play this term, he added: “They’re not that far away.

“I think week in, week out is a different situation because of the demands and expectations, but what they’re doing at this moment in time is enhancing the squad.

“Rather than going out and looking at trialists for filling the bench or [providing] different options, what these young boys are saying is: ‘Listen, we could be a really good option for you.’

“As well as Jai we’ve had a few young boys in this competition. 

“Lewis Strapp is only 16, Tiff is 17, Jai is 18 and Dylan [Stevenson] is 
19.

“We don’t have a huge squad at the moment and we lost a lot of good players in the summer, but what it has done is opened the door for these young players to make a name for themselves.

“What they are doing just now is gaining confidence and experience and I think if they keep progressing and keep adding to their game then they can do well.

“Nothing’s guaranteed. You’ve seen a lot of young talented players over the years who have got to a certain point and haven’t pushed on from there.

“But we’ve got these boys just now who’ve come through together, understand each other, and have a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of energy – and they want to play for Morton.

“I think that’s vital. They want to play for Morton. They have an association with the club having coming through the ranks. As I say, I’m really thrilled and hopefully the players – not just the young players – get due credit because to come here and win as comprehensively as we did against a Premiership side deserves the plaudits.

“I don’t see it as a huge result. I’m not getting carried away with it, but from the players’ point of view, the more positive aspects you can get, the better.

“There is so much negativity goes on, particularly on the social network sites, that it would be good if people were vocal about the positive side. I can’t really do anything about that, but what I am doing is sticking up for the players because they deserve credit.”

The Ton never really looked like conceding against Kilmarnock and Duffy was particularly pleased to see his side keep a third successive shutout on League Cup duty.

He said: “There were a couple of ricochets here and there, set-pieces, long throws, but we defended really well and picked up a lot of the second balls.

"We were really organised and switched on, and that’s something we’ve been trying to work on to make sure we had one part of the team together at the start of the season.

“That’s the back four and two in front of them. That kind of six where we can get a unit and gives us a platform to stay in games, and if you stay in games you’ll always get chances.

“The goals were terrific today. Gary [Oliver] goes to hit it with his right and hits it with his left. He doesn’t need to hit it with a lot of pace because it’s right in the corner.

“Then Jai has outmuscled the boy and gone in and scored and it’s a terrific, composed finish.

"I thought Gary and Jai were a real handful. So generally speaking it was a good overall performance. It’s something that gives us a wee bit of time where not everyone is kind of pressing the panic button now.”