MORTON manager Ray McKinnon admits his side are a ‘work in progress’ after their 2-1 defeat to Partick Thistle at Firhill.

The Ton were 2-0 down heading in at the break thanks to a wonder goal from Jack Storer and James Penrice’s strike.

But the visitors put in a much-improved second-half performance, with debutant Reghan Tumilty scoring late on for the Greenock side.

Defeat means McKinnon’s men are now unlikely to progress from the group stages of the Betfred Cup, but the Ton boss insists these games are more about getting his side to 
gel.

He told the Tele: “I thought we were okay in the first half as well.

“We had spells in the game where we passed the ball really well, we got into good areas and there was nothing we could do with the wonder goal.

“We’re certainly a work in progress. I said to the guys after Saturday, when we were okay for 70 minutes but we had a poor 20 minutes with fatigue kicking in, that we need to just keep improving.

“I said to them at half-time that we’re here to improve and we’ll get better, and we’ll keep passing it around, and fair play to them in the second half, they passed the ball really well.”

Morton began the game with Michael Tidser at left-back, with Jack Iredale in the left-wing position.

But after the second goal, where the Jags exploited the space down that left-hand side, Tidser moved back into midfield, with Iredale slotting back in at left-back.

The manager explained he had wanted to have a closer look at some players in different positions before the league campaign kicks off.

He added: “We were just trying things out. It’s a long season, and we need to see where people can play.

“I needed to see if Tidser can give me cover in that area. 

“He’s a naturally left-sided player, and I wanted to see Jack higher up the park, because he can get up the bye-lines and put the crosses in.

“They got caught a couple of times down that side though so that’s why we changed it, but you have to see these things and there’s no better time than to do it right now because I get to take that into the season with me.”

Tumilty scored Morton’s goal after only joining the club a few hours before kick-off and McKinnon is thrilled to have secured the former Ross County defender.

He added: “It’s been somewhere we’ve been looking to strengthen and I’m delighted to have brought him in.”