MORTON striker Paul McGowan has laid down the gauntlet to his team-mates to raise their game in the final surge for promotion.

The on-loan Celtic starlet was unable to prevent his side from going down 2-1 to second-bottom Stranraer.

Jim McInally's side still hold a seven-point lead over their closest challengers Stirling Albion.

But the Ton boss has warned his players not to lose their bottle when the face Peterhead this weekend.Now McGowan is determined to follow McInally's instructions to the letter and is confident Morton will bounce back in style.

He said: "Everyone is really disappointed. We know we can perform a lot better and should be winning these sort of games. Obviously it's a setback. But it's how you respond that matters most and it's up to us to go out there and win our next game and get things going again.

"When you lose a game you can't wait for the next one to come along so you can put things right and that's the way I'm feeling at the moment."

McGowan, who is highly rated by Celtic, says he is enjoying testing himself in the Second Division.

He said: "I'm enjoying it here. It's great playing first-team football on a regular basis and I'm sure this experience will benefit me as a player."

Morton took the lead after just two minutes when Chris Templeman powered home a header. Stranraer, though, struck twice in the last 10 minutes through Michael Mullen and Neil Janczyk.

McInally said: "We should have killed them off.

"We had a chances in the first-half, but we weren't clinical enough and paid the price."