JIM Duffy is pleased his Morton side were able to overcome an ‘awkward’ clash with League Two outfit Berwick Rangers at Shielfield Park on Saturday afternoon.

Duffy watched his players dispose of the Borderers at the weekend, with the clash turning into a relatively close encounter. 

But the manager is adamant he was content to simply come away with the three points in the opening Group F fixture in this season’s Betfred Cup.

He said: “We knew it would be a tough game, Berwick brought in a lot of new players and to their credit they gave us a good game and made us work for the result.

"We had plenty of the ball but just lacked a bit in the final third, it’s early days though and the signs are encouraging so I’ll take the win.

“We weren’t sure what to expect from Berwick, John [Coughlin] pretty much changed his team in the summer so it’s difficult to know away from home. You come down and they’re competitive and organised so it was an awkward game for us.

“It’s always pleasing to win the match and you can state the obvious by saying we’ve got the first three points on the board and a clean sheet. 

“So these things are always important but you can see we’ve got work ahead of us, particularly in the final ball.

“I think we controlled most of the game but when we had the opportunity to release players and capitalise on the chances, then I think that was an area of the pitch I thought we were quite poor at.

“We got a really hard work out and the legs are tired. 

“You take pre-season games you play at a certain pace and players get a certain amount of time on the ball. 

“But when you go into competition you get less time on it, you work harder. So that will help the players. 

“But there were things I thought were decent and things I thought we’ll have to work on. But that’s always the case every season.”

Duffy was pleased to see 19-year-old forward Jai Quitongo make his first start in blue and white hoops since he suffered his knee injury against Dunfermline last December that has kept him sidelined for a number of months.

He added: “It was good to see Jai making his first start again after so long out, he was unlucky once or twice. 

“But psychologically it’s good for him to start the match, so whilst there were a lot of pleasing things, there’s a lot still to improve on.”

Berwick manager John Coughlin insists his team did him proud, saying: “I can’t fault my players, they acquitted themselves very well against a really good Morton side.”