Morton shocked second-placed Dunfermline by winning 2-1 in a highly entertaining encounter at Cappielow on Saturday.

First-half strikes from Brian Graham and Carlo Monti fired Ton into a comfortable lead, and although Willie Gibson pulled one back towards the end, Allan Moore’s men held on for a deserved win.

Moore made three changes to the side which lost to Raith Rovers, replacing Grant Evans, Peter Weatherson and David O’Brien with Kevin McKinlay, Jonathan Toto and Carlo Monti.

The changes didn’t look to have made much of a difference in the early stages, however, as the visitors completely dominated the opening 20 minutes.

Colin Stewart had to look sprightly to bat Willie Gibson’s 7th minute free-kick away after the Pars wide-man feigned to cross before whipping a shot towards the near post.

The Ton goalkeeper topped that save by acrobatically flipping David Graham’s deflected shot over the crossbar just one minute later as Dunfermline went all out for an early goal.

Stewart was involved again in the 12th minute when a defensive mix-up with David MacGregor let Graham in on goal. The Pars forward dinked the ball over Stewart’s despairing dive and was cleaned out in the process, but the ball drifted wide of the upright and referee Mat Northcroft waved away the penalty appeals.

Pars midfielder Steven Bell was stretchered from the field in the 17th minute and this seemed to disrupt the away side’s rhythm.

Graham drew a superb save from Smith with a glancing header from a MacGregor cross as Ton took the initiative.

The young striker would not be denied and broke the deadlock from the resultant corner. Monti’s flag-kick broke to Andy Dowie, who tried to nod the ball back to his goalkeeper but Graham read the move and nipped in to hook home and give his side a 24th minute lead.

Ton doubled that lead 12 minutes later when Carlo Monti sent Smith the wrong way with a cool penalty after Callum Woods was penalised for climbing all over Stuart McCaffrey in the box.

Three minutes into the second half, young substitute Ryan Thomson won a 50/50 challenge with Marc Smyth and crashed a 20-yard shot off the face of the crossbar as Dunfermline flew out of the traps in search of a way back into the game.

Then, in the 54th minute, Andy Kirk accepted a clever reverse pass from Pat Clarke but uncharacteristically dragged his shot wide of goal.

Morton’s response was immediate and Monti unleashed a thunderous drive which Smith tipped into the bar and over for a corner.

Monti had another powerful strike well saved, while Kirk had a header cleared off the line by Smyth as the action swung from end to end.

Dunfermline eventually found the lifeline they were looking for in the 83rd minute when Gibson curled a low free-kick past Stewart after McCaffrey was adjudged to have fouled Joe Cardle on the edge of the box.

Substitute Weatherson should have put the game beyond the Pars’ reach in the third minute of stoppage time, but he blazed wide with just the goalkeeper to beat.

The miss proved irrelevant, however, as the referee blew his whistle shortly afterwards to end a very satisfying afternoon for the Cappielow side.