Ensures all three points in Inverclyde win
looking for it, but a collision between the two saw referee, Graham Grainger, award Morton a penalty, which Boyd converted.
Sub Craig Wighton side-footed wide moments after as Dunfermline sought a third to finish it, but they didn’t need it as they saw the game through for a vital victory that lifted them from eighth to fourth in the Championship table.
Hamilton said he was “really proud” of his team, and commented: “It was a really good start, but you need to keep on top of it because if you drop off and try and protect what you’ve got, then that suits them perfect, because they start playing balls on top of you, playing for seconds, and get into the game.
“It can sometimes make it that wee bit harder when you’ve got that two-goal lead, so you need to keep going.
“I felt we did that first half and then credit to them, they put us under pressure second half, and then we stood up to it.”
McPake was delighted with the victory, and the resilience his team showed, and felt that it was a 90 minutes which showed Dunfermline can compete in the Championship, following their promotion last season.
“We wanted to come up and show we could compete in this league, and I think the players certainly showed that tonight because, to come down to Morton and hang on with 15 minutes to go, 2-1 up, ball after ball in your box, that shows they can certainly compete.
“We know we need to better in a lot of things, but I’m just delighted to get three points.
“There was a real resilience, from the back three and Deniz in particular.
“I know, look, the goal, that’s fine. We can accept that; we’re asking them to play. It’s a bad pass from Deniz, then we give away a penalty, but we can never question that.
“He’s trying to do the right thing, he’s trying to do it the way we want to play, but he makes some big saves as well.
“I’ve not seen them all back, but it looked like he made some real big saves from the side.
“I’m just delighted to get back to winning ways, but certainly the last 10 minutes in particular, it wasn’t very comfortable.”
Moffat, who was replaced by Michael O’Halloran with just over 15 minutes to, admitted it was a nervous watch from the bench in the closing stages, adding: “It was nervy, because you know they’ve got bigger players than us, with the personnel we had tonight.
“They had two big strikers and, watching from the side there, it was a bit nail-biting, especially when they scored the pen. I’m really happy that we won the game.”