Duffy disappointed with manner of Queens defeat

Angry Morton manager Jim Duffy felt his side handed Queen of the South three points on Saturday and admitted it was the manner in which they lost rather than the defeat itself that disappointed him most.

Second-half goals from Derek Lyle, Kyle Jacobs and Joe Thomson saw the Doonhamers run out 3-0 victors whilst inflicting the Ton’s first defeat in almost two months.

Despite the excellent form in the lead up to the Dumfries reverse, gaffer Duffy insisted you have to analyse the 90 minutes in isolation, adding there is a way to lose football matches and that this wasn’t it.

He told gmfc.net: “It’s bitterly disappointing. You can lose football matches, of course you can, but there is a manner – and that was the first time in many months that I’ve felt we handed the game to the opposition.

“We didn’t lay a glove on them today. We had a couple of chances in the first half but really they were few and far between. In the first five or 10 minutes of the second half, I thought we were a bit better.

“We seemed to get a bit of a wake-up call after being so poor in the first half, but that didn’t last long and once the first goal went in, I felt we were really quite shot shy and the creative side was really poor.

“They looked heavy-legged, there was no spark, and that was strange because we haven’t changed anything in the training or done anything different.

“We deserved to lose the game, there’s no doubt about it. Sometimes you can work hard and be a bit unfortunate, but today that wasn’t the case.

“We deservedly lost. As a group – all units, defensively, midfield and up front – we were really poor, and even when we haven’t played well we’ve been notoriously difficult to beat.

“But today, no. We have to accept we weren’t good enough on the day, and the players know that themselves, and congratulate Queen of the South because they deserved to win.

“Of course, we’ll reflect on it and look it at in perspective, but based on the 90 minutes, that was as poor as we’ve been in a long time. We need to try and make sure we don’t repeat the performance again between now and the end of the season.

“And hopefully the players will feel that pain and understand how good they feel when they’re winning matches and that anger will fester in them because they need to pick themselves up for Raith Rovers on Tuesday.”

Image: David Bell