FULL-BACK Mark Russell says he’ll play any position in Jim Duffy’s Morton side — so long as he’s in the team.

Russell, 21, proved his importance to the Ton squad by taking on Michael Doyle’s role on the right side of defence during Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Livingston.

Doyle was suspended for the game, paving the way for Russell to fill the void for the first time ever in his Morton career. 

The youngster, who usually plays on the left side of defence, or in a more advanced position on the left side of midfield, showed up well during Tuesday’s highly competitive affair at the Tony Macaroni Arena.

Russell was understandably gutted when Livingston star Jackson Longridge scored the equaliser four minutes into stoppage time to deny Ton a precious victory.

But he hopes he’s given manager Duffy some food for thought in terms of competition for places at right-back.

He told Tele Sport: “I wasn’t sure where I was going to play on Tuesday but obviously the manager knows that I can maybe do a job there, so he’s put me in and I think I did all 
right.

“Basically, I’ve played the left full-back position most of my time at Morton and I’ve played left midfield but that’s the first time I’ve played at right-back.

“But as long as I’m playing I’m not fussed where I play.”

Russell admits the manner in which Ton conceded that late goal on Tuesday was tough to take.

He revealed: “All the boys are gutted. We went there and were winning 1-0 and hoping to get the three points, but they scored with the last kick of the ball, so we’re obviously devastated with the result.”

Despite the result, performance-wise, Ton returned to the levels that they are capable of.

It was a far better showing from Duffy’s team than the one they produced at Falkirk, where they lost 3-1.

Russell reflected: “Hopefully Saturday [at Falkirk] was a one-off and it doesn’t happen again and we just put that to the back of our minds.

“We just need to get back to the way we know we can play and I think we did that on Tuesday — but we should have got the three points. Their goal was a sucker punch, it’s disappointing.

“The boy’s hit it and it’s taken a wee nick off Gary Harkins and went into the net, it was really disappointing to concede in that manner.

“Hopefully that last-minute goal can be put at the back of our minds, but coming to Livingston and getting a point is still a good result, although it might not seem like it at the minute.”

Ton travel to Fife to take on Dunfermline Athletic this Saturday, a team they have a knack of scoring late goals against.

After being victims of a late sucker punch themselves on Tuesday, Russell is determined to make sure Morton end up on the right side of one this weekend.

He said: “We’d be delighted, obviously, to score a goal late on to win the game but as long as we go there and show how good we can be, then hopefully we can win the game anyway. We’ll just go into Saturday’s game and try to get a positive result. We’ll be looking forward to it.”