Things are looking up for Shankland as he focuses on promotion opportunity

In what was something of a Sliding Doors moment, Morton had taken the lead when a Ross Forbes cross eluded Lawrence Shankland and everyone else before nestling in Kevin Cuthbert’s net.

Raith gave as good as they got afterwards, though, and ought to have equalised in the 57th minute when Chris Johnston’s defence-splitting pass left Ryan Hardie with only David Gaston to beat.

The on-loan Rangers striker fluffed his lines, however, allowing Gaston to save his powder-puff shot.

“Ryan really should have made it 1-1 when he was clean through but he’s still finding his feet,” said Rovers manager Gary Locke.

Shortly afterwards, Shankland, with his only opportunity of the game, marked his debut with a goal, heading Mark Russell’s cross home from point-blank range to condemn Rovers to a ninth successive match without a victory.

Morton are now five points behind second-placed Dundee United with a game in hand and Shankland, who had been featuring mainly from the bench for St Mirren during the first half of the campaign, is now targeting promotion via the play-offs with his new club.

“I’d spoken to them [St Mirren] and they made it clear I wasn’t going to get as much game time as I wanted so we both decided it would be better if I moved on and I’m happy to be here,” said the 21-yearold, whose contract with parent club Aberdeen expires at the end of the season. “Clearly, St Mirren hadn’t ended up where we wanted to be and that wasn’t great so it’s good to have a break away from that.

“It was frustrating to go so long without scoring but it’s not as though they were creating many chances.

“Winning games is what you want to do as a footballer and it’ll be nice to sit in the house on a Saturday night with a smile on my face for a change.”