MODEST Morton spot kick saviour Brian Schwake says the lesser expectation on goalkeepers during a penalty shootout helped him make his crucial save against Ayr United.

Ton and the Honest Men were locked at 1-1 after 90 minutes in Thursday's SPFL Trust Trophy cup match at Cappielow and Schwake made a terrific stop from Sean McGinty, paving the way for Liam Grimshaw to dispatch the winning kick and send his side into the fourth round.

The young shot stopper diverted McGinty’s well struck effort onto the post and his stunning stop was lauded by fans and team-mates.

But the calm keeper insists there is no pressure on him in these situations.

The 20-year-old was especially pleased with the save after blocking a penalty earlier in the season against Falkirk only for the ball to spin back into the net.

He told the Tele: "The good thing about being a keeper is that when it comes to penalties you are not really expected to save them.

"If you do, then hopefully all the boys can put their penalties away and luckily that is what happened on Thursday night.

"At first I thought it had gone in rather than up onto the post - I was having flashbacks to the one against Falkirk!"

The man on loan from Livingston believes his side were unfortunate not to win the tie inside the 90 minutes, despite ending the match with nine men after two controversial red cards.

Schwake said: "The boys dug deep and worked really hard with nine men.

"It was like a basketball game, end to end, and both teams had chances just before full time.

"We were probably better with nine men than Ayr were with their ten.

"We could have finished it in normal time but luckily we got over the line with the penalties.

"It was a big win and it feels good to get into the next round of the cup - hopefully we can build that momentum from here and take it into the league."

Having come up with saves in all three of the shootouts Morton have been involved in so far this season, the American revealed that a bit of practice and some homework prior to the game paid off.

He said: "Sometimes our training matches will go to penalties if the games are tied, so I get my practice in there.

"But we also do a bit of research with David Scott the goalkeeping coach as well - and then you just hope that you can pull off a save and thankfully that is what happened."