Morton 0-0 Partick Thistle

Mar 16 2008 Kenny Macdonald Reports

SINNING sub Ryan McGuffie missed a late penalty then heaped praise on his shotstop pal Jonny Tuffey for blocking his goal-bound effort.

Jags No.1 Tuffey threw himself across goal to turn away McGuffie's knee-high spot-kick in the 88th minute.

And McGuffie said: "I connected with it well and if he'd gone the other way it would've been a good penalty.

"But Jonny's a good keeper. He got across well and managed to get a strong hand to it.

"It was a pressure penalty as we could have done with a victory. A few of the others boys wanted to take it but I felt confident.

"I decided where I was going to put it and it wasn't a bad penalty. But he guessed the right way and pulled off a good save.

"I'm friends with Jonny so maybe he has watched me and knows where I put my penalties."

Morton boss Davie Irons admitted he was ready to turn his back on the spot-kick due to his shredded nerves.

He said: "I turned round at the last minute - and now I wish I hadn't.

"Ryan has taken pressure penalties before and even took one in the cup final for Gretna. He missed that one but scored the rebound.

"It was a good save but we need to do a bit of work on penalties. That's two we've missed recently and we need someone to stick them away."

Morton keeper Lee Robinson settled after a shaky start to keep his side in the reckoning.

In the first half, the on-loan Ranger fumbled a free-kick by Simon Storey but recovered to clutch Marc Twaddle's header.

Thistle looked the more menacing side and Damon Gray fired wide in 26 minutes.

The second half was tense with both sides determined to avoid defeat - and chances were limited.

Ton were handed the late penalty when Jags' defender Willie Kinniburgh pulled down Ton sub Brian Wake - but Tuffey came to the rescue.

Thistle boss Ian McCall said: "We dominated the first half and could have been three or four up. I was hoping it wouldn't come back to haunt us but if it had been 1-0 it would have been a travesty."

MoM: Tuffey (Partick)