JIM Duffy has hinted at changes for this afternoon’s visit to Inverness after Tuesday night’s disappointment against Livingston at Cappielow.

Ton went down 2-0 to the Lions in midweek and Duffy was furious with his players’ commitment and apparent lack of desire in the Irn-Bru Cup first-round tie.

The manager has made it clear that anyone who stays in the starting 11 against Inverness can count themselves lucky — because no outfield man got pass marks from their boss against David Hopkin’s men.

He told the Tele: “Players have to look at their performances and, if after Tuesday night, they’re fortunate enough to be selected then they can feel fortunate. And if they aren’t, they can’t have too many complaints because they didn’t do well enough to earn the right.

“I also obviously have opponents to consider and tactics, but I’ll assess the squad and the balance of the team, and I’ll try to pick the right team to get the job done at Inverness.

“If I’m making decisions based on Saturday’s result, it’s a tough call — but on Tuesday’s game it’s not. Players have to understand now that there’s no time you can take a step back and admire a result. 

“You have to always move forward from your good results, and we didn’t do that on Tuesday.

“Football is so quickly changeable, you have a phenomenal result at the weekend and then such a poor performance midweek. 

“It was so extreme from one game to the next, which is why it was so baffling.

“If Inverness were to get a result from us we want them to earn it rather than hand it to them as we did on Tuesday.”

Morton have not squared-off against Thistle in nearly four years and Duffy admits he’s excited at the prospect of coming up against an unfamiliar foe this afternoon.

He added: “It’s new players for our boys to play against, it’s a new stadium, a new manager. 

“It’s good to come up against new opponents, that’s something that I enjoy. It’s highly competitive.

“There is an air of repetition in this league at times so it is always good to look forward to a new challenge. 

“Certainly we’ll get that up at Inverness.

“Dunfermline won handsomely against Inverness, so they’ll be hurting from that as well. 

“I’m sure their manager will be looking for a response from that. And we’ll be looking to get close to the performance we put in against St Mirren. 

“If we can do that, at least we’re competing.”