Greenock Morton manager Ian Murray praised his players’ commitment despite an opening day Championship defeat, insisting their performance showed encouraging signs while underlining the urgent need to strengthen his squad before the transfer window closes.

Morton matched Partick Thistle for long spells and remained in the contest until late on, but Murray acknowledged the gulf in squad depth ultimately proved decisive.

“I’m really, really proud of them today,” he said. “Albeit we lose the game again, and it’s a horrible feeling for us, but overall I can’t ask for any more in terms of the application, the work rate and the endeavour that we put in.

“I can always be pernickety and ask for a bit better quality, especially going forward. But in terms of the game, they’ll be sore in there and they are sore. But I take so many positives from the game.”

Murray admitted the final stages had always been a concern, particularly given the strength available to the visitors from the bench.

“Our main concern today was the 65 to 70th minute mark when we were hanging in the game. We were trying to get that goal, but when you look at the benches, the other bench was so, so strong with so many attacking options.

“We knew the last 15, 20 or 25 minutes were going to be really, really difficult for us and that proved to be the case. But, to a man, I felt our players gave absolutely everything.”

Despite the result, Murray was encouraged by how his side carried out the game plan against a team he believes will challenge for the title.

“We’ve been working hard this week on our preparation and Thistle are a good side. For me, they’re favourites for the league.

“They turned the screw on us a little bit towards the end of the game looking for that second goal, but we never gave in. We always felt we might have had a wee half chance in us. It wasn’t to be.”

Morton’s lack of options was highlighted by the make-up of the substitutes’ bench, with four 16-year-olds among the replacements and teenager Dean Black starting the match.

The Morton manager reserved special praise for Black, who bounced back impressively after conceding penalties in each of his previous two appearances.

“I thought he was man of the match today. I thought he was outstanding. To recover from giving away two penalties in two games, then go into the opening day of the Championship against what I think are the favourites and put in a performance like that, him and his family should be really proud.

“To see him bounce back after a difficult introduction to first-team football was just as pleasing as the whole team performance because he’s a really good lad. He works really, really hard and he deserves the plaudits he’ll get.”

While pleased to see academy players stepping up, Murray was clear that relying so heavily on youth is not sustainable across a demanding Championship campaign.

“We’re still in the market in terms of players and we’ve picked up a couple more injuries today.

“We were down to the bare bones and we had four 16-year-olds on the bench today, with Dean starting the game as well. To go into a Championship game with five young players like that is very, very hard. You can maybe get away with two or three at maximum, but it is where we are and we just have to get on with it.”

The Morton boss also highlighted the rapid rise of youngster Aaron Greenock, who only began training with the first-team squad earlier in the week before finding himself involved on matchday.

“It’s like a fairy tale for them. It’s great for us as a football club and it’s great that we can blood young players in these tough, tough times. But the overriding fact is we’re still disappointed that we didn’t get anything from the game.”

Murray hopes potential investment linked to the club’s proposed Estrella project will help provide the resources required to strengthen the squad before injuries leave Morton even more stretched.

“We can’t keep going on like this for the 35 games left this season and rely on the young players. We’ll get away with it for a little bit of time, but we do need reinforcements.

“We’re only six or seven weeks down the line and if we keep picking up these sorts of injuries, these kids will be back at school. That’s literally where we are.

“So we need a bit of cash and the club are doing everything they can. Hopefully we get that over the line.”