JIM Duffy insists he is proud of his team’s performance against Rangers at Ibrox – and reckons they were only a ‘natural finisher’ away from securing a replay at Cappielow.

Ton lost 2-1 to the Light Blues after Michael Tidser had given them the lead after just seven minutes with a perfect volley from outside the box.

But Kenny Miller and Martyn Waghorn turned the game on its head and sealed Gers’ place in the quarter-finals of the William Hill Scottish Cup.

The Greenock outfit spurned two gilt-edged chances, once with the score at 1-1 and again in the dying seconds of the game with the goal gaping.

On-loan Celtic kid Aidan Nesbitt skied an effort from inside the box when he went one-on-one with Wes Foderingham in the Rangers goal, and his fellow Hoops loanee Luke Donnelly missed an equally gift-wrapped chance in stoppage time.

Duffy admits those two opportunities were the turning points in an otherwise even game that had Ton playing without a recognised striker from the start.

He said: “Of course I’m delighted with the performance and the commitment the players showed was tremendous.

“We’ve always said we’re a side that works hard and we’re organised, but today we showed moments of quality. Obviously we’re disappointed about losing the game, of course we are, but we congratulate Rangers because they’re in the quarter-finals and good luck to them.

“From our point of view we scored an outstanding goal, had the two clearest-cut chances of the game that you’ve got to take when you come to Ibrox.

“Sometimes you just need instinct. We didn’t have a natural striker on the pitch today because of injuries and Shanks [Lawrence Shankland] being cup-tied.

“So we had Aidan Nesbitt, pictured, playing with Michael Tidser just off him, so maybe if you’ve got a natural finisher you take those chances, but it’s not a criticism, it’s just that that’s what it is sometimes.

“You’ve got those little bits of extra quality sometimes, you can manage to find the net. But overall we’re disappointed not to win the match.”

Rangers ended the week in bizarre fashion with manager Mark Warburton, assistant boss David Weir and Head of Recruitment Frank McParland all departing the club.

But Duffy believes this distraction off the field only served to light a fire under the supporters.

He continued: “With all the hullabaloo surrounding Rangers, particularly recently, there seemed to be a wee bit more of a positive atmosphere about the fans. 

“Especially at the start of the game and that would’ve helped Rangers over the piece.

“But we started really well, scored the goal and then it was toing and froing for a little while. 

“They controlled the game in a wee spell and ultimately it was during that spell that the game was won and lost.

“Generally speaking, when Rangers scored the second goal they’d had possession for a long period of time, and from that we really just had to try and gamble a little bit and squeeze the game there.

“But once Rangers scored that second goal, for the next 15 minutes they really upped the tempo and moved the ball quickly and that was difficult for us to hang on in there for that 15 minutes. We managed to see that period out, and I thought we looked as if we could’ve got that equaliser, but it wasn’t to be.”

Duffy’s remit was always to make the game as uncomfortable for the hosts as possible, and his men did exactly that. And the gaffer says the difference was simply that little extra bit of quality from Gers in the key moments of the game.

He concluded: “We made it an exciting match and a difficult game for Rangers and that was always what was going to be the request we gave the players, to make it an uncomfortable day — and I think we did that.

“They just had a wee bit extra quality in the key moments and that’s why they’ve won the match.”