AIDAN Nesbitt believes he has improved every aspect of his game during his loan spell at Cappielow — thanks to the amount of game time he’s been afforded under Jim Duffy.

Nesbitt, on loan from Celtic, has enjoyed his time at Morton since joining the Greenock men back in August and he insists that his abilities have grown.

The natural winger was deployed as a striker at the weekend in Ton’s 2-1 win over Dumbarton following an injury to team-mate Kudus Oyenuga after just 10 minutes.

Nesbitt reckons he wouldn’t have been able to play that role at the beginning of his time at Ton — which shows that he has come on leaps and bounds since that time.

He said: “I’m not used to playing as a number nine, but obviously with the injuries to the usual centre-forwards we had nobody to fill in for them.

“I had a wee stint at Partick Thistle for six months last year, played 10 games or something and didn’t get as many starts as I’d want. 

“But here I’m playing football and I think I’m improving.

“If you had asked me to play as a number nine in the first game of the season I’d have struggled a lot more than probably I did. I’m a winger or a number 10 — but my whole game has developed and I can now go and do that.”

Nesbitt was pleased with his performance at the weekend and admits he felt effective in the role further forward. 

The 19-year-old had a hand in both goals, and plans on claiming the first — which was credited as an own goal from Gregor Buchanan.

He continued: “We won the game, I scored and won the penalty so I feel I was effective enough.

“Next you’ll be telling me I didn’t win the penalty, so I’ll be claiming [the goal].”

Michael Tidser lashed home the second goal for Ton from the penalty spot after Nesbitt had his heels clipped inside the box.

Dumbarton players were furious with referee John Beaton, but the Ton midfielder insists they all told him at the time it was a spot-kick.

He said: “They [Sons players] were not happy with the referee, but they all said to me ‘yes, it was a penalty’. I made a run, the boy has hit my leg and I can’t run. I went down because I physically can’t stay on my feet.”

Morton’s win, their sixth home victory of the season, came despite injuries to several key players. But Nesbitt believes the result goes to show just how hard the team are willing to work for each other, especially in the face of adversity.

He says the players are willing to work their socks off for each other and for boss Jim Duffy — and that’s what has taken them to the heady heights of third place in the Ladbrokes Championship table.

He added: “It shows great character of the team. Jai [Quitongo] is injured, Gary Oliver got an injury last week and Kudus started but came off after 10 minutes. So we’re down to the bare bones. But we can still dig in and get the three points.

“I think the gaffer knows how much of a tight-knit unit it is here. I feel like he knows we’ll work for him when he is pulling and pushing us about on the pitch. We’ll all do our jobs for the gaffer and for each other.

“The energy and passion he has rubs off on the players, the running that we do and the work ethic that we have. That’s probably what has got us to where we are right now in the season.”