JAMIE McGowan insists he’s desperate to use the end of last season as the starting point for him this term — as he tries to dislodge Derek Gaston from Morton’s number one spot.

The Ton keeper started in the final fixture of last season — the second leg of the Premiership play-off quarter-finals — away to Dundee United at Tannadice following an impressive league showing against the same side a fortnight before that game in a 1-1 draw at Cappielow.

The young stopper remembers feeling ‘delighted’ to be involved in such a big game at the end of a brilliant season for Morton, and he hopes to play in more big games in Jim Duffy’s side next season.  

He told the Tele: “It was massive to get put in against Dundee United in the play-offs, and I feel as if I played well. 

“I was happy playing well, even though I was obviously disappointed that we went out.

“I was pleased to get a start, get my chance and get in the team. I think I did myself justice and that I proved the gaffer was right to put me in. 

“The gaffer and David Wylie just told me that I did really well, my kicking was really good and I had made a couple of good saves. 

“They were happy and saying I looked calm, I didn’t look nervous or anything or out of 
place. 

“I looked like I deserved to be there and that I had faith in myself, which I did.

“I genuinely felt really relaxed and even going up to the game I didn’t feel any nerves. I felt relaxed and ready to go and play.

“It was a really good high to end the season on.

“It gave me a good high to go out on for the summer, I could enjoy my holidays and then be back for pre-season. I’ve had a taste for it now. 

“I want to have that feeling all the time.”

McGowan recalled the moment boss Duffy told him he’d be starting in the second leg and says he didn’t feel nervous whatsoever at the thought of being pitched right into the biggest game of Ton’s entire season.

He believes Jim Duffy’s man management style was exactly what he needed — which was to give him no special treatment ahead of his big moment.

He said: “The gaffer had said to me on the Thursday that they were thinking about maybe playing me.

“Then I got there and a few of the boys were asking me if I thought I was going to play. 

“I didn’t know. Then Gats [Derek Gaston] had said to me that he was feeling a bit unwell and that he’d spoken to the gaffer.

“Then he named the team and he said that I was playing. But he didn’t speak to me any different from any other player. 

“The other games I’d played last year and two years ago or whenever when I was still seen as a young boy, he spoke to me a wee bit more than he would with other players to maybe calm my nerves.

"But that actually gave me a confidence boost, it made me feel like he trusts me to play me, that he thinks I’m ready because he spoke to me the way he would if Gats was playing. 

“He had the normal two or three-minute chat and that was it. 

“Then David Wylie was there saying he believed I could go and do it.

“He said it was a great opportunity to get my name out there and show that it was the biggest game in a while, not just for me but for the club as a whole. 

“He said ‘go and enjoy it because you never know when the big games will come around again’.

“I came on against Dundee United in the league on the Saturday, then I agreed the new contract on the Monday, signed it on the Thursday and played on the Friday.

“So as weeks go, it’s probably one of the best I’ve ever had in football. It was a really good high to end the season on.

“It gave me a good high to go out on for the summer, I could enjoy my holidays and then be back for pre-season. I’ve had a taste for it now. 

“I want to have that feeling all the time.”