DEREK Gaston was the only player to receive pass-marks from Morton boss Jim Duffy last night after a dismal 2-0 loss to Livingston in the Irn-Bru Cup at Cappielow.

Ton were outplayed by David Hopkin’s Lions and Duffy was fuming with his players after the game. 

The manager admitted that he has been unable to criticise his team for their desire in the past, but the performance of his team against Livi left him deeply disappointed.

And he reckons that none of his outfield players put in anywhere near the sort of shift he would expect from his first-team.

He said: “The performance was very poor. 

“Livingston totally deserved to win the match, they started on the front foot and never let up for the 90 minutes and had more of an appetite for the game.

“That’s the most galling thing for me, you can play poorly in any football game and can technically be off your game in terms of passing and sharpness. 

“But in terms of determination and trying to win the football match, that was the most disappointing thing for me because I felt that Livingston had more of that than us.

“That’s something I’ve rarely questioned about my team, that desire that you need to win any football match. 

“Livingston had that in abundance tonight and we were well off the pace.

“Take Derek Gaston aside because he didn’t have too much to do and had no chance with the goals but there was not one player who played well. It was 10 outfield players and none of them played well. 

“Not one player played anywhere near the level that they can play so if that’s the case, and the opposition play well, you won’t win.”

Morton had a few decent chances towards the end of the game with Michael Tidser blasting a penalty kick off the crossbar before Gary Oliver was denied by goalkeeper Neil Alexander and then Tidser had another long-range effort cannon off the woodwork with minutes remaining.

But Duffy believes those opportunities only served to make the shot count look more respectable at the end — because his side did not deserve to win the game.

He added: “We had a few chances at the end but we had to gamble. 

“You go four up top and throw balls into the box. We had the penalty and Michael Tidser then hit the bar with another chance. 

“But that was just cosmetic and papered over the cracks. 

“We didn’t deserve to win.”