League One’s two full-time sides have now both been sent away with nothing to show from their visits to Station Park this season after Forfar Athletic deservedly put Jim Duffy’s Morton to the sword on Saturday.
Loons boss Dick Campbell, whose side defeated Dunfermline a fortnight ago, rightly pointed out that these results will ensure people in the game and those watching on will know that Forfar intend to be a force this season.
“We were very, very worthy winners. We totally deserved the victory over the 90 minutes,” he said.
“I thought we deserved to win the game but 3-2, I didn’t think it was as tight as that, although I suppose it was at the end! I don’t want to be disrespectful to anyone but the last goal kind of took the gloss off things.
“That’s the two full-time teams we have played here and won and we have convinced everybody we have a good side.
“You saw an example of a performance from Gavin Swankie today that puts him at the top of his game.
“What a great player. I criticised Gavin last week, I don’t think he did at all well but he responded today.
“I have worked with a lot of strikers in my time and Swankie is right up there with them. I thought he was magnificent. I spoke to all four of my forwards last week, I didn’t think they put enough presence into the game. But they certainly did that today.”
The Loons played some excellent football at times and should have won by a greater margin. They had a huge shout for an early penalty turned down by referee Crawford Allan after Omar Kader’s ball struck the arm of Ricki Lamie.
But the Loons did take the lead in the 19th minute.Stephen Husband lifted a lovely pass into the box that eluded two defenders and Swankie controlled with his first touch then drilled low into the bottom right-hand corner.
Morton levelled in the 37th minute when Declan McManus took full advantage of Danny Denholm losing possession outside his own box to slot the ball home from 12 yards.
Denholm made amends for his earlier mistake seven minutes into the second half when he got on the end of a Swankie cutback to bundle the ball over the line from close range.
Swankie grabbed his second and Forfar’s third in the 70th minute with a lovely angled finish, but sub Reece Hands made for a nervous finish when he netted after Rab Douglas could only parry Mark Russell’s shot.