ALLAN McGRAW was the last Morton manager to lead the team to the top flight. That was 30 years ago and Greenock’s living legend reckons Jim Duffy can still do it with the current Cappielow team despite a derby day defeat by St Mirren.

McGraw steered Morton to Premier promotion in 1986-87 by a single point from Jim Leishman’s Dunfermline and recalled: “It was a great season and we played some really good football.

“I saw Morton lose 4-1 in midweek to St Mirren, but I know they can bounce back. Jim Duffy has done a fantastic job.

“I have seen Morton a few times this season and there have been some really good games and it would be great if they could go up in the play-offs. 

“I was quite impressed with St Mirren. Saints worked their socks off and scored a couple of good goals. I think they will stay up now. A few Morton fans I spoke to wanted St Mirren to go down, but I told them they’d miss out on the derby game if that happened.

“And it could be quite a few years before the teams meet again if Morton were to go up and St Mirren were to go down. Just look at the crowd the other night, there was 4,500 in Cappielow for a Tuesday night game and the atmosphere was terrific.”

He added of Ton’s title win back in 1987: “Dumbarton were a real threat that season and we beat them in a crucial game in the run-in. It took a fantastic save from David Wylie, who is now the goalkeeping coach at the club, to keep us in it at 0-0. Then we got a couple of goals and took us clear. In the end we pipped Dunfermline by a point.

“This season has been tough with Hibs and Dundee United in the league, but Morton have done well against them and I saw them draw last week with Hibs which was another good game.

“Jim really deserves a lot of credit for how he transformed the team. He lost five, or six really good first team players from last season but recruited well in the summer and the transfer window. I would fancy their chances in the play-offs and what an achievement it would be to go back to the top tier 30 years on from the last time.”

Morton last night announced the death of community coach Kris Juszczak at the age of just 26. Kris had been part of the club’s set-up for two years after emerging through the Future Jobs Fund project.