THOMAS O’Ware was delighted to get on the scoresheet against Queen of the South on Saturday — but he says he would happily trade it in for a winner against St Mirren this weekend.

O’Ware bagged his ninth of the season — and his 20th goal in blue and white — in a difficult, hard-fought win against the Doonhamers, to seal all three points for Ton at Cappielow.

The 23-year-old has scored in both previous fixtures this season against the Paisley outfit, who currently reside at the foot of the Ladbrokes Championship table.

And after the Queens clash, the defender admitted he’d love to nick another goal against Renfrewshire rivals St Mirren on Hogmanay.

He told the Tele: “That’s nine for the season, 19 under [Jim] Duffy and that was my 20th for Morton. It’s just impressive because that’s the games that in the first part of the season, the first couple of months, that we were drawing.

"I’ve scored two against Queens now, but if I could swap a goal it would be for this week [against the Saints], to make it three in three, so we’ll see.”

Morton have been terrific at home in recent times, but O’Ware insists that his side preferred playing on the road last season.

But manager Jim Duffy has tweaked his game plan to allow his side to play a more compact, organised game this season — and the team have adapted well to the new style.

O’Ware said: “That’s us unbeaten since March [at home] but we don’t really look too much into it.

“We enjoy playing at Cappielow but actually last season we preferred playing away just because the bigger pitch suited us. But we’ve done really well here [this season], so we need to keep it going during every game.

The stand-in skipper was immense at the heart of the Ton defence once again, and his goal even brought out some festive humour in him as well.

After netting, he gestured with nine fingers to the crowd to signify his tally for the season. 

And he revealed after the game that he and mum Margherita had a special deal in place.

Asked who he was gesturing to, O’Ware said: “I was actually winding my mum up, she always asks me every game for a goal. I was telling her I wanted an extra, early Christmas present if I scored.”