MORTON earned a point and Nacho Novo proved one.
The 34-year-old Spaniard might have had no takers at SPFL Premiership level or at his former club Rangers this summer, but he showed what he still has to offer with an accomplished 90 minutes on his debut for his new club.
Novo may have been the local headline act, but the goal which ultimately stopped the rot for the Greenock side against the Championship leaders came via a towering header from a converted central defender from Slovakia, Michal Habai.
The length of the table separated these sides at kick-off, but you would never have guessed it. This was Novo's first game in Scottish football since May 2010, the intervening period having been spent at various outposts in Spain and Poland, and the Nacho Novo show didn't take long to get started.
He had already played in strike partner Habai for one chance before the striker's first sight of goal saw him rattle the angle of post and bar from 20 yards at an angle.
The home side would hit the bar again, and see another effort cleared off the line, in a whirlwind start.
Novo said afterwards: "I am disappointed it wasn't three points for us, but the good thing is I didn't pick up any injuries. Now I will have the whole week training with the boys. Trust me, I feel about 85 now!"
While that flaring pace might have gone, the first few yards are in the head anyway, and Novo's general knack and nous in the striking role was of benefit to his team, particularly after Morton went behind just after the half-hour mark due to Anthony Andreu's close-range finish, after a Mickael Antoine-Curier header had been cleared by Scott Taggart.
The fact Novo lasted the entire match was more by accident than design, as sub Archie Campbell rolled an ankle in the half-time warm-ups, but both manager Allan Moore and player had cause to be content with the first outing of his 12-week deal.
"With the experience he had up there, people were afraid to tackle him, because he would get you fouls," Moore said. "His first strike hit the bar, and you couldn't have got a better debut than that. He knows he needs games, but I have no doubt at all that he and Michal will get us up the table."
Despite a gripe about the equaliser, his opposite number Alex Neil seemed happy enough to return to Lanarkshire with a point, continuing an unbeaten run at this venue which stretches back to 1999.
"The game was scrappy to say the least, but we came to get a result," Neil said. "Morton were unfortunate not to take the lead before we scored, but once we took the lead they didn't create too much and it is disappointing we didn't deal with a hopeful ball into the box from 30 yards. We will take the point and move on." Habai, who played as a striker until the age of 24, before being pressed into action at centre-half, now seems set to return to his initial role.
After two headed goals in a bounce game against Dundee midweek, he earned his team a point when he got on the end of a cross from his fellow Slovak Tomas Peciar to steer in a header which Kevin Cuthbert couldn't keep out.
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