JIM DUFFY has revealed that any lingering irritation he felt at Ricki Lamie for his red card last weekend has been replaced with sympathy for the player.

The 21-year-old defender will miss the most dramatic and critical game of the season when Morton play Peterhead at Cappielow on Saturday afternoon with a view to winning outright promotion to the Championship.

And Duffy is well aware how difficult the preparations this week have been for Lamie.

"He is as gutted a player as I can imagine," said Duffy. "It was a split-second decision he made last week and it was a decision that was the wrong one.

"But he has to now miss out on the biggest game of our season after playing a big role in getting us here which has been a tough one for him to take.

"At the time you are always on edge at going down to 10 men and it gives me a bit of a problem for Saturday because he has been such an important player for us.

"But when you see just how devastated he is to miss the game then it is difficult not to have an element of sympathy for him."

Morton are one of three teams who could clinch promotion on Saturday - Forfar and Stranraer could also claim top spot on the final day.

The stage has been set for a dramatic ending to what has been a thrilling Championship race and Duffy believes that the drama of League One has been unrivalled anywhere else this season.

"It has been exciting for everyone and there isn't the same level of tension or drama anywhere else.

"It will be interesting to see how the players go out and handle that because I don't think you can tell how they will cope with it until the whistle goes on Saturday afternoon.

"But any player worth their salt wants to play in games like this. There will be a good crowd, everything at stake and we need to focus, keep our concentration and try and get the win.

"That is what we have done all season and we need one more 90 minutes that follows the same pattern. It might not be enough. We could win our game and Forfar go out and score a ton of goals, win their game and go up.

"But we have to make sure that we do everything we can and that is simply getting the win."

Goal difference could well come into the equation, but Duffy has urged his players to do the basics first.

There are bound to be nerves around the ground while news will inevitably filter through to the players from the stands as to what is going on in the other games.

"No matter how much we urge them to think only of our game we know that the punters will let us know what is going on," admitted Duffy. "We need to handle that.

"The main thing is we win our game. Peterhead are a good team with good players - and a former Morton manager and former Morton players would love to get one over us, I'm sure.

"So it isn't a case of turning up to win - we need to work for it."

Despite the magnitude of the occasion, there will be no major team talk from Duffy before the game.

"These players know what we want," he said. "Whatever I would say would be forgotten about five minutes later. They know themselves what they have to do. They motivate themselves at this stage.

"This is their chance and they need to go out and take it. This week we will talk to them, point out one or two things but, ultimately, they need to go out and perform."