Jim Duffy: Dundee United defeat was a travesty
Gutted Morton gaffer Jim Duffy yesterday insisted it was a travesty that his side had walked away from Tannadice with nothing show for their efforts.
Norwich City loanee Tony Andreu sunk the Ton with a second-half brace as Ray McKinnon’s men secured a 2-1 win on home turf and gained a measure of revenge for their midweek Betfred Cup exit at Cappielow.
But Duffy, whose side netted a late consolation when Sean Dillon turned a Ross Forbes free-kick into his own net, was adamant his players could count themselves incredibly unfortunate to leave Tayside empty handed.
He told gmfc.net: “I’m gutted. I don’t think we deserved to lose it – I think it was a travesty if truth be told. We were the better side in the first half and in the second half we never looked like losing a goal.
“Obviously the boy Andreu is a terrific player and I take nothing away from him, it’s two great finishes. But they only created one chance in the first half and Andy [McNeil] had a good save and smothered it.
“I think we were definitely the side on the front foot, and from our point view, as I said to the players in there, they gave absolutely everything. I mean, the attitude and work ethic of the players was terrific.
“That was especially the case on the back of Tuesday. We don’t have the same resources that we can maybe change things round as some of the bigger clubs in the league can, including United, but what we do have is tremendous attitude and effort.
“So I was absolutely delighted with the players and their fitness levels, desire and the performance, but I didn’t feel we got too many breaks and one or two decisions went against us.
“It was frustrating when there were a couple of challenges that to me looked to absolute certain to be penalties or free-kicks, but the referee gave them the other way and said it was because we didn’t react to it.
“It’s nothing to do with our reaction, it’s to do with making a decision. So that frustrates me, and I suppose that’s the general consensus: we’re frustrated because I think for what we put in, we deserved more from the game.”
The Greenock men came within the width of the woodwork of opening the scoring at 0-0 when Aidan Nesbitt’s 37-minute effort clipped the inside of the post before Thomas O’Ware’s follow up was deflected over the bar.
And the Ton boss felt that the game could have been very different should either of those chances ended up in the back of the net.
He added: “We hit the post in the first half and it came back to Tam and he was going to put it in but the boy has made a fantastic clearance; he’s just nicked it and taken it over the bar.
“In tight games these are the things that can maybe swing in your favour. We also had a couple of great balls across the face of the goal and in and around the box and we didn’t quite capitalise.
“But listen, you’ll make mistakes and make errors and that’s how you lose a game, but as a manager you can look at certain things, and for me today I was absolutely thrilled with the players.”
Image: David Bell
