MORTON boss Jim Duffy was delighted to be able to blood youngsters during last weekend’s 3-1 defeat to Dunfermline at East End Park.

First-team fringe men Lewis Strapp and Scott Tiffoney played a part in the game alongside Jon Scullion and fellow late sub Ben Armour, and Duffy reckons the kids did themselves proud.

With the Championship heavily competitive at the best of times, Duffy believes it is virtually impossible to hand younger players many chances.

But with Ton having already confirmed their spot in the play-offs, the opportunity was there to hand debuts to some youth graduates — and Duffy was happy to oblige.

He told the Tele: “I think last week we played well, I was really pleased with the performance against Dunfermline. Not the result, of course, but with the creativity and the calmness, I thought that was a lot better. 

“On another day we could’ve picked up three points never mind one.

“There were signs of recovery and that’s a good thing. It gave us the opportunity to give young Lewis Strapp and Tiff the chance. Lewis in particular, it was his starting debut in the Championship and that’s really important.

“It’s good to be able to introduce young boys to that environment. 

“From that perspective there were some positive aspects because it gave those two boys another taste of first-team experience and that’s always vital if you’re looking to add them to the squad again for next season.

“It’s always difficult to do that in the Championship because every game is so competitive and it’s difficult to introduce new young players. 

“But thankfully we had an opportunity to do that and both young boys did well and our performance was better. It wasn’t perfect by a long stretch but it was more like us and we want to try and continue that against Dundee United but add the defensive resilience. 

“If we can do that, we can finish the regular season on a high.”