Duffy: Falkirk leveller was punch in solar plexus

Morton boss Jim Duffy says drawing away at Falkirk is a result not to be sniffed at but admitted it was painful to only pick up a point considering the circumstances.

The Cappielow club shared the spoils with Peter Houston’s men at the Falkirk Stadium on Saturday after Lee Kilday’s close-range volley was cancelled out by Lee Miller’s header.

Duffy felt it was a fair outcome on the balance of play but revealed the fact his side had scored in the 85th minute before conceding in the third minute of stoppage time meant it was simply a sickener, particularly the manner of the goal.

He told gmfc.net: “It’s painful. We’re gutted. The first game we played them this season and the equalised in injury time, it was from a long throw into the box and there’s not a lot you can do about that sometimes.

“But with this one I felt we should have defended it a lot better. It was a very basic crossing and finishing goal, one we should have defended all day long, like we did with everything else. The type of goal was disappointing.

“That type of goal is something we have worked on [defending] time and time and time again, and the players are fully aware of it. They know their jobs in those situations.

“We had weathered the storm really; Gats [Derek Gaston] had made a couple of magnificent saves and we cleared one off the line.

“Falkirk put us under enormous pressure, which you’d expect from a team of that quality at home, but if you lose a goal with 10 minutes to go and you finish the game 1-1, you say: ‘That’s not a bad result.’

“But when you lose a goal in the dying seconds then it’s a kick in the teeth and a lot more painful. Over the 90 minutes Falkirk didn’t deserve to lose, but when it happens in those dying seconds it’s a punch in the solar plexus.

“So the guys are a bit gutted in the dressing room and I’m gutted, but overall to come here and go away with a point is not the worst result in the world.

“If we look at the balance of this week we have taken seven out of nine points in three games – three tough games – and that’s fine, but it should have been nine.”

Skipper Kilday’s goal came via another Ross Forbes set-piece, and Duffy identified his deliveries as an important attacking weapon for his side.

He added: “It’s a fantastic attribute for the team, Ross. His delivery, but not just his delivery, his composure on the ball, his awareness of passes – he’s got an awful lot in his locker.

“But set-pieces in the modern-day game are very important, and I think our set-pieces today were decent. We mixed them up and gave Falkirk problems.

“Overall, that side of our game has been decent this season and our return from deadball situations has been good.”

Duffy made three changes to his team prior to kick-off in order to freshen things up after the midweek derby win, as well as making a double substitution early in the second half.

And he explained: “The effort was enormous and on the back of the derby win. With all the adrenaline from that, we decided to change it around a bit.

“Because one or two players looked a wee bit leggy at training we wanted to freshen it up, and I think it was the right thing to do.

“Then we changed it again early in the second half. We were going to do it at half-time, to be honest, because they were hitting an awful lot of balls up to Lee Miller and playing off him.

“I thought that was really their only threat and I thought if I could get Tam [O’Ware] in front of him and Lee behind that would stifle that a bit.

“It didn’t quite work that way because they moved it wider and started hitting diagonals instead of as many straight balls as they did in the first half.

“But by the same token it gave is a platform to stay at ‘nil’, and that was important. I felt the worst we would get was a 0-0 draw, but scoring late on makes it annoying we didn’t manage to see it out.”

 

Images: David Bell