JIM Duffy reckons Spartans are a league club in all but name and insists his newly-assembled Morton side simply cannot afford to take them lightly in tomorrow’s Petrofac Training Cup tie.

Edinburgh-based Spartans were the inaugural winners of the newly-created Lowland League and are widely respected for their professional approach and youth development programme.

The Ton boss is knowledgeable when it comes to their set-up and the standard of football played at that level thanks, in part, to his former club Clyde’s partnership with East Kilbride FC.

He fully expects Spartans to make a strong push for promotion to League Two via the pyramid play-offs next term, so there is no prospect of him underestimating the non-league outfit.

But Duffy also knows the overwhelming expectation is that his team will secure safe passage to the second round with the minimum of fuss and says that is something his players will have to deal with.

He told the Tele: “We’re expected to win, that goes with the territory. But to be honest with you that’s going to be the case with most games for us.

“That’s the expectation levels the players will have to deal with this year. We’re in a division Morton don’t want to be in, but a very competitive league.

“And when you play Spartans or Berwick at home in the cup, people sometimes dismiss the opposition, which is a piece of nonsense.

“Spartans won the Lowland League, and won it convincingly. They have a fantastic infrastructure and are a professional club in every aspect other than just being part of the league.

“I think a lot of people think they should have been there several years ago.

“They’ve applied for it — their aspiration is to be in the football league — and for one reason or another it never materialised.

“Do I expect to see them win a place in the league through the end of season play-off? I expect them to win the Lowland League again this season.

“But there are a couple of strong Highland League teams, Brora in particular, and they would then have to meet in a play-off. That would be a very interesting game if it came up. It would be tough for them but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are there come next year.

“They’ll certainly be the ones to beat in the Lowland League.

“I saw a reasonable number of Lowland League games last year, maybe four or five, because when I was at Clyde we trained at East Kilbride, who were in the Lowland League as well.

“We also played Gala Fairydean in the Scottish Cup last year. It was a game we missed a lot of chances and managed to get a few goals in quick succession to settle it.

“It was an improving standard; there is no doubt about that. Teams are fit, organised, their managers are tactically aware and their players are up for the challenge.

“Spartans will be prepared, organised, strong, with good players, so it would be totally disrespectful and arrogant to think you are ‘better’ and can just walk onto a pitch and win a game. If cup competitions were straightforward, the favourites would win it every year. But the favourites rarely do.

“We want to progress to the next round, so we have to show the same desire we’ve shown in the lead-up to the start of the campaign and make sure we are ready for the challenge.” The match represents the club’s first competitive outing of the 2014-15 campaign and Duffy expects the occasion to have a slightly different feel to it than it normally would because of that fact.

He added: “The first game of the season is always difficult anyway no matter who you play. You could play a top team or a lower ranked team, it doesn’t matter.

“The first game is always a wee bit edgy, a wee bit nervy, a wee bit frantic, so all those things come into play tomorrow.

“But we’ll go into the game in a positive frame of mind, starting the season afresh with a new crop of players. Once we settle down after the first three or four weeks we’ll have a wee bit more of an indication of where we are and what we need to work on before we get into the real meat of the season.”