Morton delivered the perfect response to Saturday's four-goal drubbing at the hands of Queen of the South with a battling 1-0 win over Partick Thistle last night.

Derek Lyle was the hero as he stroked home a first-half penalty against the club where he started his career to ensure Ton would leapfrog their opponents into fifth place in the First Division table.

Allan Moore rang the changes after the Queens capitulation by recalling Michael Tidser in place of Carlo Monti, while bringing Kevin Cuthbert and Fouad Bachirou back in after long spells on the sidelines.

Cuthbert was making his first league start of the season, and his first appearance since a League Cup tie against St Johnstone back in August.

And he was given little opportunity to ease himself back in as Partick peppered the Ton goal with shots in the early stages.

Chris Erskine was first to call him into action when he fired in a drive which stung the Ton goalkeeper's palms.

Then Kris Doolan let fly with a dipping volley but Cuthbert was well positioned to hold it.

But despite the Glasgow side's bright start, it was Morton who took the lead via the penalty spot in the 15th minute.

Willie Kinniburgh tried to take the ball in his stride inside the box but miscontrolled and it bounced up and hit his arm.

The contact appeared unintentional and the award harsh, but Lyle was in no mood for sympathy, and ruthlessly sent Scott Fox the wrong way with a well-taken spot-kick.

But back came Thistle, and Cuthbert was called into action again in the 21st minute when he stretched to acrobatically tip Erskine's curling effort over.

The save seemed to flick a switch in Morton's collective consciousness, and from then on they assumed complete control of the half, with Tidser, Bachirou and Allan Jenkins dominating the midfield.

Tidser appeared to be revelling in the space afforded him on the left and it was from a foray infield that he rattled the crossbar in the 31st minute.

Kevin McKinlay advanced down the wing and fed Tidser, who worked a yard of space before unleashing a fantastic rising drive from fully 30 yards which crashed back off the junction of bar and post.

For their part, Partick were now struggling to string a coherent move together, prompting furious Thistle manager Ian McCall to make an early substitution, replacing Paul Cairney with Martin Grehan.

The move almost paid off in first-half injury time when Grehan sped on to Bryan Hodge's pass before rolling the ball past Cuthbert. Fortunately for Ton, Marc Smyth had raced back to cover the goalline and cleared the net-bound effort.

The visitors were the first to threaten after the break, but Paul Paton's sliced effort flew well over the bar.

David Rowson was next up, and hit the target with a 25-yard daisy-cutter, but the strike was straight at Cuthbert, who dropped to smother.

Morton began to stamp their authority on the game as the hour mark approached, and almost doubled their lead when Jenkins met Stewart Kean's drilled corner with a thunderous volley which flew just over.

Tidser had a deflected shot saved by Fox in the 77th minute. He then released substitute Sean Fitzharris with a penetrative through ball, but the young winger went for power rather than placement, blasting the ball straight at Fox.

Thistle applied some late pressure in a desperate bid to snatch a point, but rarely looked like breaking the home defence's resolute resistance.

And after three minutes of added-on time, the full-time whistle sounded to end a scrappy but confidence-boosting affair, which will go a long way to wiping Saturday's defeat from Ton fans' minds.