When Brian Graham's goal went in with just over 10 minutes to go there was an outpouring of joy and relief at Cappielow on Saturday.

The enthusiasm off the pitch was matched by that on it. The slump had been arrested and it was as if a boil had been lanced.

Caretaker boss James Grady and his on-field assistant Allan McManus would no doubt admit that there is some way to go yet before they can profess to be content, but the only thing that mattered on Saturday was the victory. The finer points of performance can take a back seat at the moment.

Grady was beaming afterwards and said: "It feels fantastic. It does really feel great.

"It [the goal] was a long time coming to be fair. Now I feel the pain of all managers I've ever worked for - just trying to get your message onto the pitch and you think people are rubber-earing you, but I'm going to put that down to concentrating on the pitch.

"It wasn't pretty at times. The boys had passed it a lot better leading into the game. I don't think we really started that well, but again it was all about three points.

"When a team is low on confidence, the bottom line is to get the win. We have managed to do that and hopefully we can kick on and start to get the ball down and play again." After the goal it was as if the Morton players had drunk heavily on an elixir of confidence and Grady commented: "There was a definite burst of extra energy, because the first half we were well off it in the middle of the park.

"I don't like to make excuses but there was a virus that had affected a few players. Brian Graham, the goalscorer, only trained on Friday.

"He was wanting off with 20 minutes to go, and then he gets his goal and you're delighted with that.

"Hopefully he can go on a run now, because one thing he can do is finish. He just needs a bit of the rough edges taken off." Asked on his own chances of getting the manager's job, Grady replied: "That's way in the future. The bottom line is the chairman has asked us just to take care of things until such time as he tells us otherwise.

"We'll prepare them [the players] and do everything correctly the way we would do it if we were the full time managers.

"The result was the most important thing today. It gets us a bit of confidence and we can build on that.

"We've got another very important game against Queen of the South next week." Asked if he had been tempted to play himself, Grady smiled and said: "When Brian told me at half-time he was struggling a bit I thought I might have to, and I did a couple of wee stretches at the side of the park, but I was never for going out.

"He hung in there and got his rewards for doing that and he can rest up over the weekend. But I'm sure he'll have a wee shandy first." Keeping a clean sheet was another important aspect of this game, and Grady said: "Anything Colin [Stewart] did have to do, he did really well. I thought he took a sore one when he came out and clattered somebody.

"It starts from the back and if you can keep a clean sheet you've always got a chance of getting the three points.

"We defended well at times; again at times we didn't. There's a lot there to work on, but we'll take the positives. We've got three points and we'll kick on from there next week." The emphasis on training during the week had been to be sharper, and Grady said: "We curtailed the training a bit, but on a higher tempo. We are a very fit side but at times we're not sharp. You need that wee bit of impetus at times to go on the front foot and work other teams." Asked about the balance of the team and the switch of Jim McAlister - a naturally right-footed player - during the match from left to right, Grady said: "I spoke to Jim about it. It doesn't bother him one way or the other. Jim just loves to play football.

"We had a call-off late last night [Ryan McGuffie with flu]. We were going to go with Jim on the right and Carlo [Monti] on the left.

"But you saw the difference once we got Allan Jenkins into his natural position in the middle - he'd that drive - and we had Jim on his good side and got a few balls in.

"The balance of the team was much better. Carlo put in some good deliveries.

"It's a great start, but that's all it is - a start." Airdrie's Kenny Black has seen his side play some good football this season, but without a cutting edge, and he said: "The bottom line is you have to put the ball in the back of the net. Fair play to Morton, they did that and we didn't.

"It's a disappointing result. At the end of the day it's who scores."