MORTON boss Jim Duffy admits Saturday wasn’t his side’s day after a 1-0 loss to Dumbarton — but he believes Ton were unlucky not to come away with at least a point against the Sons.

Ton conceded a sloppy goal by their defensive standards on the hour mark through Raith Rovers loanee Lewis Vaughan, but were desperately unlucky not to score on several occasions, hitting the woodwork three times and having a Lawrence Shankland goal disallowed.

And Duffy says that while Dumbarton might have shaded the first half, the defeat was a tad harsh on his players who had also put in an energy-sapping performance on Wednesday night.

He said: “The first half we didn’t play as well as we would’ve 
liked. 

“There were a few heavy legs but we knew that anyway because we looked at the training on Thursday and Friday, and we could see there was a few of them after the exertions on Wednesday were just not at their sharpest.

“So we changed it round a little bit, tried to get a wee bit of energy at the top end of the pitch because they’d put in such a shift in midweek.

“But I thought Dumbarton were slightly better than us in the first half.

“Mark Russell has cleared one off the line, there’s another one that Michael Doyle cleared away. We’ve then hit the underside of the bar.

“But the second half, although we made a mistake for the goal, I can’t remember Derek [Gaston] having anything else to do. But when you hit the post, hit the bar, have one chalked off, a couple flash across the goal, sometimes it’s just not your day.

“I’m not saying we deserved to win, but I’d certainly say we were worth at least a point.”

Shankland was penalised for a foul as he leapt to head in a Ross Forbes cutback and Duffy reckons from where he was standing it looked cruel on the striker.

He said: “It was a nudge, but whether it’s a nudge or a push I don’t know. It depends on how much of a nudge. But we’re 50 yards away from it so couldn’t see if there was enough in it. 

“The referee called it, you have to deal with that.

“Of course I’m disappointed with the result but overall I think the last half an hour in particular, we showed a real desire to try and get something from the game and we stepped the pace up and on the day were unfortunate not to take something.”

Ton slipped back down to third in the Ladbrokes Championship table after the loss, as Falkirk nicked a 1-0 win of their own against Raith Rovers in their fixture. But Duffy insists he’s not too downhearted by the slip-up.

He continued: “We’d always have been delighted to be in the top four and we’ll still be delighted to be in the top four. I think at the start of the season if anyone had said Morton would be in the top four, you’d have bitten their hand off. And I think that’s still the case.”

And asked if he had any reaction to the midweek comments made by Neil Lennon, Duffy replied: “Funnily enough, I do normally read the papers, but I haven’t watched SKY, and I haven’t read the papers for a couple of days.

“I’ve decided just to watch Catch-up TV and a few box sets and enjoy myself. It’s good to talk about football and that’s what I intend to do from now on.”