Morton have signed 20-year-old midfielder Jamie Lindsay on loan from Celtic, with the youngster in line to make an appearance today against Berwick Rangers.

The teams meet in the new look League Cup at Cappielow and while Morton boss Jim Duffy remains on the hunt for another striker to add to his squad, he was pleased to get Lindsay in.

“It works for both parties, “ he said. “I saw Jamie last season when he went to Dumbarton for the second half of the campaign and I thought he done well. It also means that he is coming to us with a bit of experience of the Championship too.

“We all know that Celtic’s midfield is hugely congested at the minute so I don’t think anyone should see it as a negative that the boy is coming here to get some first-team football – this is reality.

“We can be good for him and he can be good for us. Last season we had a lot of young players that we gave chances to and a clutch of them moved on – that is because they got the chance to play competitive football every week and there is no substitute for that.”

One player who won’t feature against Berwick is Conor Pepper. The Irishman had an operation on his knee at the end of the season and although he returned to participate in the opening weeks of pre-season training, he has had recurring issue with the tendon in his knee.

An appointment has been scheduled to investigate the pain he is still experiencing around the knee and Duffy will have to wait to discover whether further surgery is required or whether it can be resolved without going under the knife.

“It is in the lap of the gods at the minute,” said Duffy. “We need to wait and see what the doctors think but certainly at this stage we would have no idea about when we can expect to think about him coming back.

“It has been frustrating, especially for the player himself because the original thinking was that an operation would solve the problem but we don’t see to be too much further on.”

Duffy, though, has sounded a cautious welcome to the new format of the league cup, although there are one or two issues that he feels may have to be addressed going forward.

The problem regarding playing trialists have been a headache for a number of the lower league clubs who would traditionally use this time of year to look at players.

“Overall, it is like everything new – some things work and some things might need to be tweaked,” said Duffy. “I do think there have been positives. The penalties add a bit of drama and there has been some excitement which is good although I do feel that the games came very early – even just a week later would have helped.

“A lot of us are still trying to sort out players and squads at this stage. Also, being able to play maybe two trialists would have been perfect. It means then that you get to look at players in a competitive environment before committing to signing.”

Berwick gave Kilmarnock a scare last week when they led the Rugby Park side for large chunks of their Cup tie, and Duffy expects a similar contest this afternoon.

“Kilmarnock had to fight tooth and nail last week – they were 2-0 down with twenty minutes to go,” said Duffy. “I know John Coughlin well and I know that they will be up for the game.

“We need to make sure that we go into it in the right frame of mind but it is a chance for us to start moving forward.

“I would still like to bring in someone who can give us a little bit if firepower up front but then again, so does every manager. Guys like that are thin on the ground so it is a case of continuing to look to see what we can do.”