SCOTT McDONALD'S predatory instincts are well known. Having struck once more at the vital moment, the Dundee United striker signalled his intent to snatch top spot in the Championship from Dunfermline.
The former Celtic and Motherwell front man stepped up for Ray McKinnon's promotion hopefuls with an 83rd-minute winner which moved the Taysiders to within two points of Allan Johnston's league leaders ahead of this weekend's trip to East End Park.
United's timing was perfect in returning to winning ways following a three-game run without victory, just in time for their trip to take on the early-season leaders.
Former Australia internationalist McDonald, whose late strike came after James Keatings' 65th-minute opener had been cancelled out by substitute Robert McHugh's equaliser for the visitors with 15 minutes to go, showed he'd lost none of his opportunist streak in front of goal. And he then sent out a warning to Dunfermline that they are firmly in the Tannadice side's sights now.
“It will be a tough game next week against Dunfermline and this victory will definitely help. It's a good one to take into East End Park," said McDonald. “We had a couple of draws prior to this one, so it's just good to get back into the winning groove.
“They're top of the league and on a decent run of form, but you know if you beat them you may well go top.”
United's sluggish start to this season looked like continuing until McDonald's late intervention. But if the truth be told, they ought to have been out of sight by half-time.
The hosts, though, showed another side to their armoury and 34-year-old McDonald credited his team-mates for refusing to become gripped with panic once their Greenock opponents had levelled.
“It was a better performance all round," he said. “That's the positive for me. I think also the fact that it went to 1-1 and we didn't panic considering the results we've had of late was a good sign."
Meanwhile, Morton manager Jim Duffy was not getting carried away with the defeat. He said: "I can't fault the players for effort, so it's a sore one to take so late on.
"But to play so well against a team with Dundee United's resources gives us plenty encouragement moving forward."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here