RAITH ROVERS 1 MORTON 2 DYNAMIC defender Dom Shimmin reckoned the ref read it wrongly by handing Raith a late penalty in the Ton's gutsy win.

The Cappielow crew were 2-0 up courtesy of a Peter Weatherson double when Rovers launched a late rally and set up a fraught finish with a fiercely contested spot-kick.

Shimmin surged across the fringe of the penalty box to block striker Gregory Tade who sprawled into the penalty box to win the spot kick award from whistler Crawford Allan with 10 minutes left.

Raith's Kevin Smith snatched the ball while Ton protested the award, led by skipper Stewart Greacen, and immediately placed it on the spot before rifling a waist-high shot down the middle as the keeper dived to his right.

Shimmin, right, said: "I didn't think it was a penalty. Some of them you get and some you don't.

"It was definitely outside the box and you can clearly see from the leg marks on the pitch that it was outside.

I was ready to take the yellow card for it to be fair. I saw the situation build up and he was through on goal and I thought it was worth taking a yellow, but the ref never gave us anything in the second half and I am just glad we hung on." Shimmin added: "We need to close that gap on Raith and we need to break way from the bottom two. We don't want to find ourselves in a dogfight and need to take this into our next game and maintain this form.

"For the last couple of seasons we have been down there, so we have to do something right and need to start pushing up the league.

"We always say we are too good to be down there, but the league speaks for itself. Hopefully in a couple of months we will be much higher than we are now." The Ton soaked up some intense first-half pressure on a badly cut-up pitch to snatch the lead against the run of play.

Raith's Laurie Ellis powered a 12th-minute header inches over the bar from an Allan Walker corner on the right, then Johnny Russell hammered a 10-yard header high against rhe right post 12 minutes later.

However, Jim McAlister sped down the left before teasing in a fine cross to pick out Weatherson who guided a neat header across former Ton keeper David McGurn and just inside the right post for the opener in 32 minutes.

But the Ton again had to survive a Raith raid as Russell hurtled in at the back of the box on the right to slide in and stab a six-yard shot which grazed the right post in stoppage time.

However, Raith's rescue bid evaporated just seven minutes into the second half when they allowed Weatherson to gather a deep ball into the box from the left, evade a defender and prod a low shot from about 10 yards which squeezed between McGurn and the far post.

Courageous keeper Stewart preserved the lead four minutes later when he bravely threw himself down to smother the ball 12 yards out as Shimmin ushered it back to him only for Smith to lunge in and catch him on the head.

Stewart required treatement to the gash on his forehead and was swathed in a Rab C Nesbitt-style bandage for the remainder of the game.

Stewart said: "I will probably have a couple of paper stitches put in it - but it has now ruined my modelling career!" Raith surged forward in the closing stages and were handed that controversial penalty in 79 minutes as Tade crashed to the ground after Shimmin came inside on to his run a yard outside the box.

Smith converted the award and four minutes later Stewart came to the Ton's rescue as Tade burst past Shimmin only to see his low, angled shot from the left of the box brilliantly stopped by the keeper's legs.

Morton manager James Grady said: "When we arrived and saw the pitch we knew it was going to be a battle rather than a day of silky soccer.

"As for the penalty decision, it was a foul, but the guys are saying it was a yard outside the box. But it was given and the boys stood up to the pace of Tade and Smith, who is a handful.

"I am delighted to get the three points because we knew [Raith manager] John McGlynn would be saying they could cement their place in the division with a win." Grady hailed Weatherson's performance, adding: "I've just signed Peter on a new two-year contract and said when I first came here that he's a player who can play at a higher level, with no disrespect to us.

"He is a striker who can easily hit double figures and touch on 20 a season." RAITH: McGurn, Wilson, Ellis, Campbell, Murray, Walker, Russell (Wilson 68), Simmons, Smith , Tade (Weir 85), and Ferry (Smith 68). Subs unused: Sloan and O'Connor.

MORTON: Stewart, McGuffie, Reid, Shimmin, Greacen Tidser (Paartalu 55), Finlayson, Jenkins, Weatherson, Graham (Russell 80) and McAlister.

Subs unused: MacGregor, Monti and Cuthbert.

Referee: Crawford Allan.