MORTON manager Jonatan Johannson paid tribute to his opposite number Gary Caldwell for making light of a second-half incident which saw a floodlight flashbulb smash onto the turf as the Cappielow side recorded their biggest second-tier win for just short of a decade. After a short delay, the Greenock outfit completed their 5-1 come-from-behind win which heaped further pressure upon new Partick boss Gary Caldwell. By contrast, Morton have quietly taken 10 points from the last 15 to move up to fourth in the table.

“It fell about two yards from my foot so of course I noticed it, it looked like ice, but it was glass,” said Johansson. “But I tried not to make a big deal about it because we didn’t want to lose focus and the referee said straight away get it cleared off and we can start again. And Gary Caldwell and his staff, to be fair they didn’t make a big deal out of it either so that was very sporting of them. Luckily it was only one bulb.”

The four-goal margin was Ton’s highest on home turf at this level of Scottish football since beating Raith Rovers 5-0 on Sinclair Street on 14 November 2009, a feat achieved despite falling behind within 15 minutes when Brice Ntambwe met Craig Slater’s out-swinging corner with a bullet header that crashed into the net.

With Johansson sticking with the 5-3-2 that proved successful against Queen of the South at Palmerston on Tuesday, left wing Jack Iredale made a huge impact, delivering crosses for strikers Gary Oliver and Bob McHugh to net and turn the game in the Ton’s favour before adding the third himself 10 minutes into the second half.

McHugh continued the hot streak that has seen him score four goals in his last four outings – as well as sparking the gaffer’s son Jonathan junior’s impromptu Bob the Builder tribute – by slotting home again just after the hour. Michael Tidser completed the rout with his seventh of the season shortly afterwards.

“We are really pleased with the performance obviously,” said Johansson afterwards. “The most pleasing thing was that we came from behind and didn’t show any signs of stopping what we were doing. The basics in football – the pressing, the defending that was there. And it was by far our best game in possession, we created chances. This new system suits us in a way, we can get our wing backs really offensive and getting crosses in to two strikers. Everything worked well and we were really pleased with some individual performances too.”