CHRIS Millar was thrilled to mark his return to the Morton team with a goal against Peterhead.

The midfielder came into the starting line-up for the first time since the Ross County game last month, having injured his groin towards the end of the game against the Staggies. The 35-year-old came off the bench against the Blue Toon on Saturday and played the full 90 minutes in the replay on Tuesday night.

After a period on the sidelines, the former St Johnstone player was glad to return to Jonatan Johansson’s side and help the Ton progress into the next round of the competition, where they’ll face East Fife.

The midfielder was also proud of his side’s character to come away with a 3-0 victory, after their bus broke down on the way up to the north east before playing in very windy conditions.
He told the Tele: “We could have made excuses, the bus broke down on the way up here and it took us seven hours to get up here, you’re playing in a hurricane.

“There was every excuse to come up to Peterhead and lose and I thought for me more than anything it showed what character there is in the dressing room.

“It was difficult conditions, and Peterhead are a good side. 

“They’ve got decent players who have played at a high level.

“I’ve played with a few of them and it was never going to be an easy game, but we’ve got the objective done and we’re into the next round, and I felt we dealt with the conditions brilliantly.

“It was great to get 90 minutes under my belt. 

“I’ve been out for three weeks with a groin problem and it just took time to heal.

“It was quite high in the tendon, so it took time to settle. I got 45 minutes on Saturday and 90 on Tuesday.

“I’m delighted with that and hopefully I can kick on now.”

Kerr Waddell’s header opened the scoring for the visitors at Balmoor, before Robert Thomson doubled Morton’s advantage just after the hour mark.

Millar netted the third after some good work from Thomson and McHugh to help set up the midfielder, before he slotted the ball past Greg Fleming in the Peterhead goal from a tight angle.

The 35-year-old joked he was lucky to come up against Peterhead’s Simon Ferry when chasing down the ball.

He added: “It was one of those ones where I saw Thommo go up for it, so I just gambled that he was going to get it.

“It was between me and Si Ferry, so it was probably one of the slowest sprint races in the history of football, but I managed to get in front of him and get it past the keeper from a tight angle.”