MORTON manager Jim Duffy was full of praise for his side’s fighting spirit as they kept their play-off hopes alive with a dramatic late winner to beat Dumbarton 3-2 at Cappielow last night.

Danny Handling gave Sons the lead early in the second half, before Gary Fraser and John Baird put the Ton in front. Liam Burt’s deflected strike on 88 minutes looked to have earned the visitors a point, but Jack Iredale’s winner four minutes into added time kept Morton well in the play-off race.

With Dundee United also beating St Mirren, it proved vital for the Greenock side to pick up maximum points, and they now trail Dunfermline and United by two points.

Duffy said: “It was certainly a dramatic game.

“I thought we played really well for long spells, started the game really well and like everything else, they scored from their first shot, and it puts you on the back foot.

“Thankfully the players kept going. 

“As I’ve said before we can criticise this team for mistakes, but you can’t criticise them for their commitment and that was evident with the final whistle 

“They kept trying and they got a break. 

“We’re thrilled. Dumbarton put an unbelievable amount of effort into the game, and it was a very well contested game but it keeps us fighting for the play-off spot, we’ve got three games to go, and we’re still in the fight.

“We can’t affect anything else, we just had to get the result. We haven’t given up and the players showed that tonight.”

Luca Gasparotto and Gary Oliver were left out of the squad due to injury and illness respectively, with Michael Tidser also playing through the pain barrier.

Add to that Derek Gaston going to hospital to have a check on a hand injury, which forced him off at the break, and it could stretch Ton’s squad for the last three games of the league campaign.

The manager added: “Luca injured himself in training on Monday. He jarred his knee, it didn’t look like anything at the time, but after he went home his knee stiffened up and the muscle above it.

“Gary was down with a virus on Monday and he was absolutely floored with it. 

“Michael jarred his neck as well. It impacted his performance tonight. He kept playing; we didn’t want to make too many changes.

“Derek had to come off, it was a bone injury in his hand. He couldn’t grasp the ball, he’s going to go for an X-ray and see how it is.”