TRIBUTES have been paid today following the death of former Morton player Hugh Strachan.

The club says it was 'deeply saddened' to learn of his passing on Monday, at the age of 84.

A centre-back or defensive midfielder, Hugh was one of the outstanding members of Morton’s great team of 1963/64 and one of the most influential players for the club during the 1960s.

A spokesperson for the club said everyone at Cappielow's thoughts were with Hugh’s family and friends.

Hugh hailed from Ayrshire and following an early career in the juniors with Cumnock and Troon, he moved to Motherwell, making 31 appearances for them between 1957-63.

He was signed by Hal Stewart in July 1963 and following his Morton debut against Ayr United that August, Hugh was an ever present for almost three years.

He made a remarkable 145 consecutive appearances for the club, before finally missing three games due to injury towards the end of 1965/66 season.

Hugh continued to play for Morton for three more years, normally as left half, and his final appearance for the Ton was in a famous 4-2 victory against treble-winners Celtic at Parkhead in April 1969, a match which featured a six-minute Per Bartram hat-trick inside the first 10 minutes of the match.

Hugh’s total of 276 appearances for Morton places him 22nd in the all-time club roll-of-honour.

He featured in all of Morton’s big games and great achievements of the 1960s, winning two Second Division Championship medals in the record-breaking 1964 and 1967 sides, and claimed a runners-up medal in the 1963 League Cup Final.

He played in three League Cup and three Scottish Cup semi-final ties for Ton, against Hibernian in 1963, Celtic in 1964 and 1967, Hearts in 1968 and Celtic again in 1969, as well as featuring in both the club’s European ties against Chelsea in 1968.

His five goals for the Ton included one in a controversial 3-3 draw against Celtic at Cappielow in January 1965, when Morton were denied a last-minute winner.

Having come back from 3-0 down, with goals from Carl Bertelsen in the 78th minute, Strachan with a header in the 82nd minute, and Bertelsen again with an 84th minute overhead kick, the referee blew for full-time as Bertelsen’s 'winner' hit the back of the Celtic net.

Hugh moved on to Kilmarnock aged 30 in 1969 and featured 25 times for the Rugby Park club before joining Partick Thistle a year later.

In the twilight of his career, he won a third Second Division Champions medal in 1970/71 and, in one of the biggest League Cup shocks of all time, he was a member of the Thistle side which beat Celtic 4-1 to lift the trophy in October 1971.

He played for Thistle over 160 times between 1970 and 1974 and was inducted into the Firhill Hall of Fame in recognition of that League Cup Final success.