JAMIE McDonagh admits he had a tough time adapting his game during Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Hibernian after swapping from right-back to striker following another Ton injury blow.

Striker Kudus Oyenuga was replaced by Lee Kilday after 15 minutes when he pulled his hamstring, prompting McDonagh to be pushed up top to lead the line alongside Gary Oliver for the remainder of the game.

Despite being a forward to trade, the Northern Irishman says he found it difficult to switch mentality from a defensive mindset to attacking an one.

He told the Tele: “It was very tricky.

“We’ve been unlucky with injuries recently obviously with Jai Quitongo being injured and Kudus coming off.

“It took me a while to get into it again, there was a lot more running. We weren’t working on me playing up front during the week in training, I had just had to go with it and give it my everything when I was playing. I was happy enough with my performance after the game.”

McDonagh reckons Ton were slightly more downbeat after the game because they didn’t secure all three points, even though they managed a point against the table-toppers - the same team who hammered them 4-0 back in August.

And being his own worst critic, he was frustrated that he couldn’t take one of his chances to net against Neil Lennon’s men.

He said: “I thought everyone was actually a wee bit more disappointed that we didn’t win. I thought we could have won the game based on the chances we had. And I think we had better chances than them.

“Myself personally I had a couple of chances that I probably should have done better with, we were just unlucky. It put us down a bit with them getting the goal so soon after us, but it was a good performance all round. 

“If you had said to us before the game that we would get a point [on Saturday], we would have taken it. And the unbeaten run continues at home, so we are pretty happy with that.

“I’m a bit hard on myself and think I should have done a bit better, but I got a bit of luck that it’s come back off the crossbar and fell to Gaz. But I probably will take the assist for that one.”

Reminded that his shot off the crossbar came from a very difficult piece of athleticism to execute, McDonagh replied: “It was, yeah. The goalkeeper was at the other side of the net and I was just trying to get anything on it, and if it would have went anywhere else, it was going in. It was just a bit unlucky.”

McDonagh insists he’s happy playing wherever manager Jim Duffy needs him, and he’s more than willing to take his chance in his familiar striker role - if that’s what is required.

He concluded: “Wherever the gaffer wants me to play, I’ll play. He will pick whatever players he thinks are needed. Obviously there are injuries just now and it’s unlucky the way it has panned out, but I’m happy to play where the boss wants me. I’ll just see what the next few games bring.”