JIM DUFFY can’t wait to get his Morton side back into competitive action in today’s Petrofac Training Cup clash with Dumbarton.

With pre-season now complete, the gloves are off at Cappielow as the Championship new boys take on their second-tier rivals.

“I think it’s the same for all the teams, once you’ve done all the preparation we just want to get on with the matches,” Duffy said.

“You can only get so much from pre-season matches, there’s nothing like the real thing.

“Throughout pre-season the work ethic and the attitude of the players, as you would expect, has been terrific.

“We’ll just have to see now if we can compete at the level that we are supposed to compete at, which is against the likes of Dumbarton.”

The contrast in preparations for the new season between the sides could hardly be more stark, with new Sons manager Stevie Aitken making wholesale changes to his squad, and Morton relying on the core of players that took them to the League One title last season.

Duffy said: “I’m a big admirer of Stevie, and he’ll give everything he’s got to make sure that Dumbarton are a very competitive side.

“I think he’s recruited very well, signing 10 or 11 players, so he’s put his personal stamp on things right away.

“The players he’s brought in will all want to play for him because he’s given them a chance in the Championship, so they’re very dangerous opponents and we’ll see how we do.

“We hope the continuity will help us, but ultimately the players have to be good enough, that’s the bottom line.

“It was a fantastic achievement from us last year to win an unbelievably competitive league, but it’s a whole different ball game in the Championship.

“I hope that nucleus of the squad being the same will give us the advantage of the players all knowing how each other play and their strengths and weaknesses.

“In terms of the Dumbarton game, we won’t be 100 per cent sure how it’s going to go, but we’ll be able to assess it better afterwards how we’re going to compete.

“In terms of performance levels, it might tell us if we’re miles away or there or thereabouts, but other than that I won’t be reading too much into it. Hopefully it’s a positive result though!”

Duffy revealed he is hoping still to strengthen his squad further, and gave an update on trialists Romario Sabajo and Ricardo Tula, who both played in the Rotherham friendly last week.

“Romario has signed a contract pending international clearance, but I don’t think it will be in time for the game,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get that tied up early next week.

“We’ve allowed Ricardo to move on. He did very well for us, but it’s just a case of priorities as I don’t have the budget to stretch all over the place.

"I had to concentrate on the areas where I felt we needed a little bit more strength, and we’ve done that in the forward areas with Romario.

“We still have to strengthen in one or two other areas in order to compete, there’s no doubt about that, but we’ll deal with the Petrofac game first and then the League Cup before the league starts.”