CHAMPIONSHIP

Queen of the South’s eightmatch unbeaten league run was brought crashing to an end with a 5-0 humbling by a Morton side that had them on the backfoot from the outset.

Morton boss Jim Duffy saw it as a confidence booster for their forthcoming League Cup semi-final against Aberdeen.

“It’ll definitely give us a lift and give the players a sense of confidence … to score five goals and not concede any in the style we did against the league leaders is certainly a tremendous result,” he said.

“We know Aberdeen is a different level and all we can do is focus on our preparations, but it’s a much better atmosphere on the training ground going into a game after a result like this.”

The game was just six minutes old when Morton struck. Ross Forbes latched onto a clearance from a corner to fire a curling 25-yard drive into the top corner of the net giving keeper Lee Robinson no chance.

The Greenock side went further ahead in 33 minutes when Jamie McDonagh capped off a neat four-man move to crack home a leftfoot drive from the edge of the box.

It was beginning to look like a landslide when former Queens on-loan striker Gary Oliver fired a third home three minutes later.

And the Morton bandwagon was in full swing when Jai Quitongo made it four in 64 minutes when he was on the spot to slip the ball home as defenders failed to handle a cross from Oliver.

And the Greenock side completed the rout in 71 minutes when Thomas O’Ware scored from the spot after Forbes was brought down in the box.