DEREK Gaston admitted Morton had to weather a storm against Queen of the South — but praised his defenders for standing firm.

The goalkeeper made his first return to the starting line-up since the Irn-Bru Cup game against Dumbarton back in August.

Gaston was one of five changes made to the starting 11 from the heavy 5-0 defeat to Ross County on Saturday.

Ton tried a change of formation as well, going with a back five, including three centre-backs.

Doonhamers boss Gary Naysmith claimed his side fired in 28 crosses during the game, as well as having 12 corners and large amounts of possession.

But 31-year-old Gaston paid tribute to his defenders, who helped make it a relatively quiet night for him.

He told the Tele: “After they scored we were under a wee bit of pressure, and at that point we’re probably thinking we’d take a point because it seemed relentless.

“Every time we cleared it, it just came back. They had a numerous amount of corner kicks and crosses, and we were under quite a bit of pressure.

“Reece [Lyon] pops up with a wonder strike and then I felt we were comfortable for the last 10 minutes after that.

“Between [Stephen] Dobbie’s goal and Reece’s strike we were under a lot of pressure but we managed to defend really well and win our headers and tackles and got ourselves the result.

“We played with the three at the back and they all played really well.

“I don’t remember there being many crosses that made it into my gloves, so a lot of credit must go to the centre-halves, as well as the whole team, for dealing with the amount of crosses that did come into the box.”