Jim Duffy has been handed a boost ahead of this afternoon’s Betfred Cup opener against Albion Rovers at Cliftonhill with the news that Ricki Lamie should be fit to return to Morton’s squad.

The defender has been sidelined for the last few weeks through injury, but he should be able to take his place in a defence already deprived of the services of Conor Pepper and Mark Russell.

“Rickie should be ok for tomorrow,” said a relieved Duffy.

“Mark and Conor will definitely be out though, although Mark isn’t far away. He’s been running but hasn’t done full training so certainly won’t be available tomorrow.

“Derek Gaston is also 50/50 with a thigh strain. We didn’t have him training on Friday as a precaution, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

Duffy could certainly do with his other injured players returning to the fold sooner rather than later, as the League Cup group stage has come around quicker than he has been able to fill the gaps in his squad.

“We’re a good bit away, probably like most clubs,” he said. “We’re not in a position where we can compete financially with a lot of clubs, so we have to wait and have patience to get the right players.

“The cup competition has come early and while we’re ready in terms of our fitness and our preparation, we’re obviously still a bit light when it comes to certain areas of the squad.

“We’re still needing a few players, but we’ll be ready to compete well against Albion Rovers tomorrow.”

Duffy says that the new players he has managed to bring in have been settling in well, and that he is not afraid to throw his youngsters in at the deep end should they be required.

“Michael Doyle and Gary Oliver were signed a number of weeks ago and they’ve been through the whole of pre-season, so that has given them a chance to bed in with the rest of the boys which you always want,” he said.

“Jamie McDonagh and Caolan McAleer have only came in recently, and I’m still waiting on clearance coming through for Jamie because he was at Sheffield United.

“They are players who are direct and like to be a threat, and they will give us competition in an area of the pitch where we don’t have a lot at the moment in terms of strength and depth.

“It’s all young players we have up there, Gary Oliver was 21 during the week, Jai Quitongo is 18, Jon Scullion is 21 and Jamie McDonagh is 20, so we’ve got a very young group in that area.

“They’ve all got their own strengths, and hopefully when they’ve got a few games under their belts they can show their potential.

“These guys are part of the squad, and we’ve introduced them this year to try and give us a bit of competition from within.

“They haven’t let themselves down in pre-season, although we know that the real stuff is different, and the quicker they can learn from that then great.”

Duffy expects a tough challenge against Albion Rovers this afternoon, and he was full of praise for the job being done there by his opposite number today, Darren Young.

“Darren has done a terrific job,” said Duffy. “He has put his own stamp on the club and done amazingly well, and in a very tough League One last season they competed really well.

“I’ve got great admiration for him, and at home they will be up for it.

“They know that at the start of the season no one is really up to speed yet and we’re all still looking to see how we will go, and I’m sure that they will be looking to take advantage of that.

“From our point of view though, we’ve had a few pre-season games and we’ve trained well, so we have to go and see if we can perform near to our best and get up to speed as soon as we can.”