JIM Duffy is adamant his side won’t employ a ‘gung-ho’ attitude in tonight’s Premiership play-off second-leg against Dundee United.

Morton trail the Terrors 2-1 from Tuesday’s first-leg at Cappielow and know that only a win will do to keep their hopes of reaching a semi-final against Falkirk alive.

But gaffer Duffy insists his team will continue with the tried and tested formula that has brought them to the play-offs in the first place — because they have to get the balance right against a structured and organised United side. 

He exclusively told the Tele: “You have to get the balance right, you can’t just throw everyone forward and hope for the best. 

“Sometimes if you do that it can actually be counter-productive. The most free-scoring teams in the world play with one striker. 

“It’s a bit of a myth that if you throw four forwards up the pitch then you score more goals.

“It’s about how you support that striker and get things behind that striker.

“It’s something that you have to learn, you can’t just snap your fingers and say it’s going to happen.

“Good players help but it’s all about getting the balance right.

“Sometimes the more bodies you have in there, the more congested it becomes and there’s actually less space, so you play the system that you think suits your players best.

“Then you hope that they perform well. It’s served us well for the vast majority of the season, and we might tweak it a little bit because this will be the seventh time we’ve played United. But there won’t be dramatic changes, it might just be slightly adapted to try and change the tie in your favour.”

Ton dominated the first half of Tuesday’s first-leg but Duffy was disappointed with how they fared in the second 45.

But he reckons if his troops can go the full game with the same intensity of Tuesday night’s opening, they stand a chance of upsetting the apple cart at Tannadice.

He said: “You reflect on games and obviously try and improve but I think it seems to have been forgotten a little bit that the game on Tuesday lasted 90 minutes and not 45.

“We played very well in the first half and I genuinely do think that seems to have been forgotten.

“We didn’t perform as we would’ve liked in the second half and we understand that results are what is important but I don’t think it should take away from the fact that we were the better team in the first. If we can emulate that performance tonight, we’ve still got a chance.

“We’ve been to Tannadice already this season and Dundee United scored a late equaliser to get a draw and the other game we played very well in and were narrowly beaten 2-1.

“So you’ve got to go up there understanding that they’re favourites and probably regardless of the scoreline on Tuesday they would probably have been favourites.

“But our players know that if we perform the way we played in the first half on Tuesday then we can ask questions of them and then that’s the first thing we’ve got to try and do.

“We have to give it everything we’ve got and that’s the message to the players. Give it everything and see whether that’s good enough to turn it all around.”