IN his programme notes for Saturday’s match against Stenhousemuir, Morton chairman Douglas Rae joked about his bank balance taking a hit due to the club’s recent run of victories.

And the Golden Casket chief would have been left relieved to be paying out the squad’s win bonuses again this week after they survived a second-half scare against Scott Booth’s side.

Despite seeing a comfortable 2-0 lead severed on 68 minutes and facing the final 22 minutes with rookie goalkeeper Jamie McGowan between the sticks, Ton still claimed all three points.

Sub Stefan McCluskey scored a late counter-attacking goal to calm the nerves and ensure Jim Duffy’s men stretched their winning run to four matches as well as reopening the chairman’s chequebook.

Yet the frantic finale was a state of affairs that no one would have seen coming after the hosts’ fantastic first-half performance had them two-goals to the good and seemingly cruising to victory.

Top scorer Declan McManus won his first Scotland Under-21 cap through the week and seemed to have returned from Switzerland supercharged by the accomplishment.

And only a smart stop from another Under-21 alumnus in Stenny keeper Greg Fleming prevented him from opening the scoring with a piercing angled drive from just inside the box on three minutes.

It was an early signal of intent, but before Ton took a tight stranglehold on the first half, they were given a fright by the visitors.

On 10 minutes, former Morton striker Colin McMenamin stooped to steer Sean Dickson’s whipped corner from the right on towards the far post.

Another familiar face, ex-Ton skipper Stewart Greacen, came steaming in and seemed certain to turn the ball into the net.

The big centre-half miscued, however, and stabbed across the face of goal straight into a mightily relived Derek Gaston’s arms.

Greacen’s blushes were spared to extent, though, when it became clear that the linesman’s flag was raised for offside and that the goal would not have stood should he have converted.

Manager Duffy made just one change to the team that beat Airdrie seven days earlier, selecting Mark Russell at left-back ahead of Ricki Lamie.

A pattern has emerged, with the Ton boss preferring the attacking qualities of Russell at Cappielow and the physicality and defensive instincts of Lamie on the road.

And Russell was fulfilling his boss’s expectations by bursting outside of and beyond Robbie Crawford, who was playing narrow on the left of midfield, at every opportunity.

The teenager, a regular on the left of a front three in Derek Allan’s Under-17s side two seasons ago, had the beating of Stenny right-back Ross Meechan.

His delivery from wide areas, which has been hit and miss at times this term, was spot on and Andy Barrowman, in particular, was thriving on the service.

The Cappielow captain’s movement was textbook when, on 13 minutes, he darted across his marker through the six-yard box to the near post to meet Russell’s low cross from the left.

As he had for the goal he scored against Forfar, Barrowman improvised and stabbed towards goal with his left foot, forcing surprised former Gretna keeper Fleming into another fine reaction save.

But the Ochilview outfit could have had Manuel Neuer in goal with Gigi Buffon on his shoulders and they still wouldn’t have kept out the Ton’s opener.

And it came from the most unlikely source in right-back Lee Kilday, who carefully controlled Stefan Milojevic’s raking diagonal pass out to the wing with his instep and arrowed in on goal.

After skipping inside a challenge from Alan Lithgow, the former Hamilton defender curled a sublime left-footed effort into the net via the crossbar at the extreme top left-hand corner.

So impressive was the goal, I found myself spontaneously applauding, unintentionally breaking pressbox etiquette before snapping back to attention and scribbling down notes.

Ton then hit the frame of the goal again on 23 minutes when Russell and Barrowman recreated their earlier move.

Russell left Meechan trailing with a clever stop-start burst before delivering another teasing centre which Barrowman sent looping over Fleming and onto the top of the bar with a deft glancing header.

They were at it again just after the half hour, only this time Barrowman’s header skewed up and away from goal, dropping perfectly for Kilday arriving like a steam train at the far post.

The 22-year-old smashed a savage first-time volley back across the face of goal, just ahead of McManus who desperately tried to connect, only to see it cleared by a Stenny body.

Kilday’s goal was not only his first for Morton but also as a senior professional. He had failed to score in 45 first-team appearances for Hamilton and 20 outings since moving to Cappielow.

But he clearly had developed a taste for the glory, and just like buses, you wait an age for one and two arrive at the same time.

Bursting onto McManus’s nonchalant sideways flick, Kilday breezed into the box and, with the conviction of a season striker, calmly stroked the ball past Fleming to his left.

It marked the high point of an exhilarating first half for the Greenock men. They were energetic, slick, vibrant and oozed confidence as they bossed the game. Their movement was excellent, with the likes of Robbie Crawford, Jamie McCluskey, and McManus roving around the frontline searching for space, while the full-backs supported from the flanks.

There was also a fire about the midfield, with Conor Pepper pressing and harrying at every opportunity and Thomas O’Ware combining aggression with a simple yet effective use of possession.

But Warriors manager Scott Booth made an important change at the break, withdrawing the ineffective McMenamin and replacing him with Joshua Watt.

In doing so, he moved from a 4-4-2 formation to a 4-3-3 with Watt and Jamie Reid supporting Gary Oliver through the middle.

The wingers occupied Ton’s flying full-backs, preventing them from getting forward to the same effect in the first half.

On 51 minutes, Dickson forced Gaston into his first meaningful save with a snapshot that the Ton No1 plunged to his left to parry.

It would also be his last meaningful contribution as a thigh problem forced him off two minutes later and replaced by debutant McGowan, an impressive performer for the Under-20s this term. Yet, the hosts could and should have prevented the Ochilview outfit from ever mounting a rally for the draw by scoring a third inside the first 15 minutes if the second half.

Jamie McCluskey, right, was the first sinner, firing in a shot that was superbly blocked by Stenny skipper Ross McMillan after he had collected McManus’s square ball and easily sidestepped Lithgow. Less than 60 seconds later the roles were reversed when McCluskey picked out McManus by bending a cross around the front of the retreating away defence.

The ball found McManus who took too long to pull the trigger, allowing Meechan to recover and make a desperate last-ditch lunge to stab the ball away from the hitman.

Perhaps stung by the failure to convert, McManus was then rather hasty when he lobbed high over the bar after showing an electric turn of pace to leave Greacen trailing and get on the end of Jamie McCluskey’s long ball in behind.

The failure to convert was punished when midfielder Dickson put the cat amongst the pigeons by halving the deficit on 68 minutes.

Booth was screaming for his side to put set-pieces “on top of the keeper” and for Dickson to make sure he put his free-kick “inside the far post” to test teenager McGowan’s mettle.

Positioned 35 yards from goal to the right of centre, Dickson whipped a flat, left-footed free-kick through the bodies in the box and in off the left-hand post.

Some may point a finger of blame at the young keeper for being beaten from that range, but it was a horrible set-piece to deal with, particularly as he would have been expecting someone to get a touch.

Thereafter, it was backs-to-the-wall stuff for the Ton — but despite an all-pervading nervousness both in the stands and on the park, Ton managed to handle what the visitors threw at them.

And in actual fact it was they who looked the more potent side when breaking effectively on the counter-attack.

Kilday, for example, should have completed his hat-trick when substitute Stefan McCluskey put him in on goal with a skilfully executed hooked volley over his own shoulder.

But the ice that was in his veins earlier appeared to have melted as he hurriedly volleyed high and wide. The goal would come, however, as a result of a superb Stefan McCluskey-led lightning counter raid on 87 minutes.

The younger McCluskey sibling darted after loose ball and stretched out a toe to nick in ahead of an opponent and then sent McManus scampering clear down the right.

He continued his run through the centre anticipating a return from the Aberdeen loanee, which he turned into the net with a deft touch back across Fleming when it duly came.

Although McManus has netted just once in his last seven appearances, he is still making a valuable contribution, providing assists for four of the six goals scored in his last four outings.

The third goal, which on a day of firsts saw McCluskey open his Ton account, was enough to wrap up the win, keep Ton top of the pile in League One, and leave Mr Rae happy, if a little lighter in the pocket.