Morton manager Jim Duffy has revealed that he substituted goal hero Lawrence Shankland late on in the win over Raith Rovers so that he could milk the applause of the Cappielow faithful.

The on-loan striker was replaced by Rickie Lamie in the second minute of stoppage time, with Duffy keen for the forward to get a confidence boost after a barren spell at rivals St Mirren.

Shankland played a part in both Morton goals on the day, and Duffy hopes that he can build on a promising start to his time at the club.

He told the club website: “We know he’s not played a lot of 90 minutes, and it was just after the 90th minute we decided to take him off, and I thought it was important for him to hear the crowd supporting him.

“If you come off after the game at the final whistle, it’s great – but when you come off as an individual and the supporters get behind you, it just gives you wee bit of extra confidence and it puts a smile on your face.

“It’s because they appreciate the job you’ve done and there’s a wee rapport straight away, so I think that is important for players and was good on Saturday.”

Shankland’s influence on Morton’s first goal, a cross from Ross Forbes that rather fortuitously travelled all the way into the net, was also not lost on Duffy.

“What Lawrence did at the first goal, which we don’t normally do, is made a run across the face of the defence to try and get on the end of the cross,” he said.

“Because it just went over his head the keeper was distracted by that and it goes into the far corner. That’s quite a common thing in football.

“I’m delighted for Ross again. Once again, that type of delivery gives defenders problems and gives goalkeepers problems. It was a bit fortuitous, there’s no doubt about that, but it got us in front.

“From then on in, we always looked strong enough to hold out and managed to get the second goal through Shanks, which was brilliant for him.”