MORTON boss Jim Duffy believes tomorrow’s cup clash with league rivals Falkirk will have a different edge to it — despite being the third meeting between the teams already this term.

The Ton boss admits that a tie against opponents from a different division would have brought a welcome break from facing familiar opponents. 

But he believes the prospect of another cup run will bring out the best in his boys and says that both teams, spurred on by their supporters, will adopt a different mindset to a Championship encounter.

Duffy told the Tele: “Although you play a team in the same division, there’s a different kind of mentality when you’re playing cup matches.

“Even though you play each other so often, there’s that expectation that you might have a good cup run.

“Both teams have that and therefore both sets of fans have that. And as cliché as it sounds, you do get that cup atmosphere.” 

With Ton on a terrific run in the league, it has been suggested in some quarters that the tie could be viewed as a distraction from their main goal of sealing a place in the promotion play-offs. But the manager doesn’t see it that way.

Asked if he would rather continue the momentum by playing a league game, Duffy replied: “I think you just play the game that’s in front of you. You don’t really look at it if it’s a league game or a cup game. What you obviously want to do is keep winning and keep performing well.

“You want to keep the confidence and belief high, and if you do that then no matter what, the next game that comes up, you know you’re in good shape for it. But it’s the Scottish Cup game that’s in front of us and we’ll look forward to the game against very tough opponents and try to be in the hat for the next round.

“It could’ve been a lot easier but the first game away to Beith was a very tricky match and we played very well that day and very professionally. This is a different type of match against a team who have been excellent over the period of time that Peter Houston has been there.

“There’s not been much between us in the two games so far and I would expect it to be another tight match.

“I’ve always said that in cup matches I’d prefer playing someone outwith our division because we play them so often. We know each other very well, they know our players and vice versa.

“You might come up with something different from a set-piece to try and catch an opponent out on an occasion, but generally speaking we know each other so well and can cancel each other out.

“In an ideal world you want to play someone you haven’t played in a while just to add a freshness to the game but that’s not the case.

“It doesn’t always make for the most exciting spectacle but it’ll be two teams wanting to make it into the next round of the cup.”

Jamie McDonagh returns from suspension tomorrow after a moment of madness saw him sent off in the recent Renfrewshire derby. Duffy is pleased to have the Northern Irishman back and says the player knows he will have to bust a gut to get a chance to atone for his red card.

He said: “Jamie did well before the suspension. He had a silly moment that he was punished for and that’s the thing about it.

“He’ll have to fight hard to get back into the team.

“But it’s one out, one in this weekend with Shanks [Lawrence Shankland] being cup-tied, so Jamie will be in the squad on Saturday.”