MORTON defender Jack Baird believes grinding out three points against Cove Rangers made up for failing to put 10-man Hamilton to the sword.

Jai Quitongo's spectacular volley ensured Ton claimed victory in their first Championship game in front of the home support.

The centre-half believes it was crucial the points stayed at Cappielow against the Granite City outfit after their opening day stalemate against the Accies.

And Baird says Ton showed their true grit by holding onto their first clean sheet in the league with a resolute performance at the back.

He told the Tele: “I'm delighted to get the first clean sheet of the season and kick off our home games with a win.

“We wanted to build on last week’s result against Hamilton Accies - which was okay on the face of it.

“When they went down to 10 men last week we wanted to try and come away with three points.

"But if you get a point away from home then you’ve got to back it up with a win at home and thankfully we’ve done that.

“We showed both sides of the game on Saturday and that's just typical of this league.

"Sometimes you’re defending for your life and then you can grind it out and get a win from there."

The 26-year-old praised Quitongo’s decisive finish and believes Morton could have won by a bigger margin.

Baird said: “Jai’s finish was just top class. I felt it was worthy of winning any game.

“I thought we had a few decent chances and as a team we put a fair bit of pressure on them.

"Thankfully we came up with the goal that made the difference in the end.”

Baird admits Morton's performance levels fell away at the end of the first half.

The ex-Ayr United man says that strong words from boss Dougie Imrie and assistant Andy Millen gave the players the rocket they needed to kill off Cove in the second half.

He believes that the result will be important and has backed Jim McIntyre's League One champions to make an impact in their first season in the Championship.

He added: “The gaffer and Andy spoke to us at half-time because we’d fell away in the last 15 minutes of the first half quite badly.

“We couldn’t really get a grip of it by the end.

"When we came out in the second half I thought we improved.

“We defended well for large parts and were clinical when it mattered most against a really experienced side.

"Cove showed they are capable of causing teams problems in this league, so it's a very good result for us.”