THOMAS O’Ware has revealed Morton players were at loggerheads after a frustrating first half against St Mirren — before an inspirational team talk from Jim Duffy sparked their second-half revival against the Buddies.

The stand-in skipper admits the players let themselves down in the first half against their Renfrewshire rivals and found themselves a goal down thanks to Lewis Morgan.

But after a motivational talk in the dressing room from Duffy and some stern words between team-mates, the Greenock men came out with a point to prove.

O’Ware headed home the equaliser with 10 minutes remaining and he believes Ton could have taken all three points at the final whistle.

He said: “We let ourselves down in the first half and when we went in at the break the boys weren’t happy. 

“At 1-0 down you’re pretty much going to take a point against nearly anyone in this league.

“At half-time it was just frustration and we were arguing amongst ourselves. 

“But the gaffer has cooled us down and just given us the motivation that we needed to go out in the second half and put on that performance that we knew we could.

“But to put in the performance of the second half and with the chances that we had I think we deserved it. 

“Obviously we know they dominated the first half but apart from their goal they didn’t really have many other chances.

“If you look at the second half and our dominance we’ve had three or four good chances and a couple of penalty shouts, so if we got the three points I think it would have been deserved.”

O’Ware bagged the equaliser himself with 10 minutes to go and explained his thoughts as the corner kick came flying over from the left-hand side.

He told the Tele: “I’d been getting marked tight all game and I knew the defender would do the same, so I exaggerated my run a wee bit towards the front post and he started to come with me. 

“That opened up a bit of space behind me to go into.

“Wee Tiff [Scott Tiffoney] put in an outstanding ball to be fair to him and I knew it was going over us, so I’ve stepped back two yards and had a free header that I couldn’t miss from there.”

Ton were denied three spot-kicks before the final whistle but O’Ware was particularly disappointed with the last one with five minutes to go. 

Bob McHugh was felled by Stephen McGinn and everyone inside Cappielow could see there was contact.

But referee Kevin Clancy waved play on, leaving Ton players perplexed by the decision. 

O’Ware said: “I think the Bob McHugh challenge is the clearest one, that should definitely be a penalty. 

“But he didn’t give it and you just have to get on with it.”