Former Morton winger John Gahagan hopes that the lack of fear in Jim Duffy’s young players will help them upset the odds in Saturday’s Betfred Cup semi-final at Hampden.

Jim Duffy’s men face the daunting prospect of taking on the in-form Dons for a place in the final, and Gahagan admits it will be a tall order for the Cappielow men to prevail.

He is pinning his hopes on Morton’s group of youngsters, who remind him of the group containing a young Derek McInnes who came through their ranks when he was playing there, to carry the fight to their superior opponents.

And he is sure that in manager Duffy, they have a man at the helm who the players will run through brick walls for.

“If Aberdeen play to their capabilities then Morton have no chance,” Gahagan said.

“Aberdeen have got great pace, a bit of dig, great artistry and the only thing that could lead to their downfall is thinking the job is done.

“But I remember when Morton played Celtic in the quarter final of the cup in the early 90s.

“I was injured at the time and didn’t play. We had a really young team but they went to Celtic Park and didn’t have the slightest bit of fear. They couldn’t get enough of it and couldn’t wait to get out there.

“Jim Duffy’s great strength is that players love him. He has a great track record of bringing young boys through.

“When he took over at Morton they only had three players signed and yet he still won promotion that season. That is a miracle.

“He took what he had as a player and a tactician. He read the game well and had good vision for what was going on around him.

“He has good communication skills, good people skills and good motivational skills.

“In football you need to see things quickly and Duff has that in his locker.”

Gahagan remembers when the man who will be in the Aberdeen dugout on Saturday was making his way as a youngster in the game at Cappielow, just as he was coming towards the end of his career.

Even then, he saw many of the qualities that marked Derek McInnes out as someone who would go far in the game.

“Derek came through at Morton along with Derek Lilley, David Hopkin, Brian Reid and Alan Mahood,” he said.

“I remember my very first training session. I trained with all those kids and thought ‘I’m deid.’

“It was 1990 and I was ready to chuck it. They were all great athletes and I was five yards off them.

“I wasn’t even that old. I was only in my early thirties and here was these young boys running away from me.

“They were so fit and so full of enthusiasm. McInnes had such a zest for the game and you had to see it to believe it.

“Derek stood out from the first day I saw him. He had so much skill and was also a great athlete.

“He was super enthusiastic. He just loved training and he loved football. He was a sensational kid.

“You could always tell that Derek would stay in the game. If you are going to be successful you need to be passionate and you need to have a love of training and being about the boys. Derek was like that right from an early age.

“And you can now see that in his team and his players. They play with energy and enthusiasm and that all comes from the manager.

“He is a bit like Jim Leishman in that he has the ability to make players feel good about themselves.

“Davie Hay at Motherwell was the same. He made every guy feel good about themselves. He made me feel like Jimmy Johnstone."

*John Gahagan was speaking at the launch of the Hartson Foundation's Sportsman's Dinner at the Glasgow Crowne Plaza Hotel. Special guest is Neil Lennon. For more info go to www.johnhartsonfoundation.co.uk

“In Davie Hay’s head he probably thought I wasn’t good enough and too inconsistent but he had to make me feel good so he could get the best out of me.”

*